The Performer
by ZackSkylar
Summary: Emrys the Performer, known by his friends as Merlin, is famous for his magic tricks that have drawn a lot of attention, his latest trick being no exception, but this time it draws in the attention of Arthur Pendragon. What will happen when their two worlds connect? AU Modern day.
1. Chapter 1: Need an umbrella?

It was just another performance, Merlin had done hundreds before, but the thrill that came from it hadn't gone away. He hid behind a pillar, looking on his phone at his Twitter account. He scrolled through the tweets with the tag #EmrysPerforms, smirking at the excited buzz. From when he had started he now had thousands of followers waiting for the next trick, each one with a new twist. Today's one was no exception. He peaked out at the crowded square of Covent Garden. There were already street performers, but Merlin was ready to blow them away. He threw his backpack off of his shoulders and pulled out a top hat. He then stepped out from the pillar and walked into the middle of the square. He dropped his hat on the floor and then looked up to the sky.

Suddenly a raindrop fell down onto his face. A couple of seconds another drop fell down. Then suddenly the heavens opened and it started to pour down with rain. Merlin grinned as everyone else on the square cleared away from the sudden downpour. The stage was now clear. He looked out towards the crowds that had hidden under shelter and shouted, "Guess I might need an umbrella! Anyone got one?"

He looked around the crowd and then smiled, "No, that's alright actually. I've got it!" He then clicked his fingers and the rain suddenly diverted around him. He took a bit of a walk around as people started to realise what was going on. He saw a couple of video phones being raised and grinned. He then went over and grabbed two chairs and a table from one of the nearby cafes and brought them over to the middle of the square. He opened up his backpack and grabbed out a towel that he quickly used to wipe down the surfaces to make them a bit dryer. He then sat down on one of the chairs and pulled out a container of scones, two plates, two knives, and two smaller containers of jam and cream, "Would anyone like to join me?" He shouted out.

He could see people looking at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. Then suddenly a man with blonde hair made his way out of the cover and over to the table. By the time he reached Merlin he was drenched, but he was smiling. Merlin smiled back, this was where things were going to get fun. "Would you like a towel? You're a bit wet." Merlin asked, barely able to keep a straight face.

"Go on then." The man replied. Merlin passed him a towel and he dried his hair a bit while sitting down. He then passed the towel back and Merlin folded it neatly and placed it ontop of his bag. "So, I don't normally do this sort of thing. Sitting in the middle of a rainstorm eating scones."

"Few." Merlin exclaimed, "I'm glad. I thought I was the only one." He heard a few laughs from the audience. He then leaned in and grabbed a scone and placed it on the man's plate. "Well, are you going to tell me your name? I don't normally give my goods away to men I don't know." The man raised his eyebrows at this comment, causing Merlin to grin an even wider grin.

"I'm Arthur." He replied, as he started to cut open his scone and put the cream and the jam on.

"Ah, good. Cream then jam. Good choice." Merlin replied. He then went to cut his scone open and then stopped. He leant back on his chair and sighed. "You know what Arthur, I would really like some tea to go with this. Do you want some tea?"

Arthur laughed, the surreal nature of the situation starting to get to him. He had been out with his friends and was dared to come over and join in. But he was amused so decided to play along, "You know what, I would like a cup of tea. But first, can I find out your name?"

Merlin frowned, "You don't know me. Seriously. I'm done." He then stood up and started to walk away. "Get your own tea!" He shouted as he walked away from Arthur, who suddenly realised what was happening. He jumped up but was too late and then rain started to fall down onto him and he was left in the middle of the square getting drenched. The crowd started to laugh but Arthur was fixed on Merlin, with one of the biggest scowls on his face. Merlin smirked and started to laugh when he saw him. He then walked over to Arthur and the rain stopped hitting him. "I'm so sorry about that. Here, let me make things better."

Merlin held his hand up to the sky and suddenly the rain stopped and the sun started to shine down. Arthur looked astonished as Merlin clapped him on the back, "You should be dry in a few minutes." The audience started to applaud as Merlin smiled and took a bow. He then got ready for his signature ending. He walked over to his top hat and picked it up. He then turned towards Arthur and grinned, "Merlin."

"What?" Arthur was still confused by the whole situation.

"My name. It's Merlin." Merlin left him with one last grin, then turned away and towards the majority of the crowd. He put the top hat on his head and suddenly disappeared. The crowd rushed over to try and find him, but there was no trace...except for the table with the scones on it. There was something else too. Merlin had left a note on the table infront of the container the scones were in reading "If you enjoyed this performance then please donate generously."

People started to put money into the Tupperware container, still astounded by what had happened. Meanwhile Arthur was still standing in the middle of the square confused at how he should feel. His friends made their way over to him, laughing at his drenched state.

"Wow. Get to see someone control the weather conditions, get to see you get soaked, and get a new pair of boots. Today's just my day." Gwaine laughed as he felt the piercing gaze of Arthur.

"You know what Gwaine. Seeing as though it was your idea that I go up there, maybe I shouldn't be the only drenched one." Arthur pulled a water bottle out of his bag, opened it and threw the contents at Gwaine. It hit him square in the face and the others, Lyon, Percy and Elyan, started to laugh. Arthur smirked as Gwaine sighed. The guys then moved away from the square, but as they did Arthur saw a guy making his way across to the table. He was wearing a coat that obscured his face, but he knew who it was. Arthur walked towards the guy and tapped him on the shoulder. "I think you have some explaining to do."

Under the hood he could see that grin spread again, "Give me an half an hour and I'll happily buy you a drink, will it be tea you're having?"

Arthur smirked, and nodded, "Funny. Funny guy. But you know what Merlin," He leant in so his mouth was next to his ear, "Maybe you shouldn't let me near any hot drinks at the moment."


	2. Chapter 2: The Man with the Blue Bandana

Arthur spent the next thirty minutes hanging out with Lyon, Gwaine, Percy and Elyan as they looked through shops. They weren't looking for anything in particular; apart from perhaps Gwaine who was flirting with any young female shop assistant he could find. But as the time went on Arthur told the others that he would see them later.

He walked out towards the twilit square and looked around but could not see the obsidian haired man. He pulled out his phone and saw it was "16:28". He was couple of minutes early. He sighed, now that he thought about it; he didn't know how he was going to meet up with the guy. They hadn't exchanged phone numbers, they hadn't said where they were going to meet, Merlin had just said "Give me thirty minutes". As Arthur waited he paced slightly.

But as the time changed to "16:32", his phone started to vibrate. He picked it up out of his pocket and it said "Call incoming: Merlin" and had a picture of the man with that grin on it. Arthur sighed and answered the phone, "How did you get my phone?"

"That's a stupid question, I'm a magician. Doing the impossible is my thing." Merlin's voice replied, with that same tone of nonchalance that had been present during his performance, "Not that getting your phone was impossible, actually it was really easy, you should really keep a closer eye on it." Arthur scowled and Merlin started to laugh knowing what was happening.

"So then, Merlin, where are you?" Arthur asked as he leant back against a wall.

"What, can you not see me? Have a look." Merlin replied. Arthur sighed and then walked forwards and glanced around the square. There were people walking around, but he couldn't see Merlin. The table and chairs had been cleared from the middle of the square, "Let me give you a hint. Head to the middle of the square and look up." Arthur walked over to the middle of the square and looked up at the building tops and then into the sky. Still he couldn't see anything. But then he heard Merlin laugh and let out an aggravated, "Merlin!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Merlin laughed, "I just wanted to see if you would do it." He then stopped laughing. "Alright, seriously this time. I'm waiting outside Café Nero. Head up towards the Strand."

Arthur scowled again and started to walk towards the café. As he did he saw Merlin laughing. He had changed, and was now wearing a long sleeved green t-shirt, with brown chinos and a blue bandana, which seemed to be some sort of weird fashion statement. "He doesn't look bad in it." Arthur thought, as he walked towards him. Merlin came over to him and grinned, "Sorry about that. I just wanted to see what you would do."

"So could you see me the whole time or did you just listen to what I was doing?" Arthur replied indignantly.

Merlin grinned and then showed Arthur his phone, where he could see a live video feed of the square, "I installed cameras earlier to make sure that someone caught my performance in full."

"Of cause. And you left them up to mess with me. Great." Arthur replied, "Weren't you meant to be making earlier up to me?"

"Ah, yes. Let's get you a drink." Merlin led Arthur forward and into the coffee shop. They ordered and their drinks were delivered to them as they sat at a table in a corner of the room, "Two teas, here you go." The waitress said leaving the drinks with the two.

"So, tell me about yourself." Merlin suggested, as he started to drink the tea, "So far I know that your name is Arthur, and your special talents are your ability to be gullible and to get soaked by large bodies of water."

Arthur scowled, "Ah, I forgot, the scowl. Yes, thank you." Merlin teased, as Arthur pushed him from across the table so he leaning back in his chair.

"Fine. I am Arthur Pendragon, I'm twenty-eight, I work as a judge in high court." Arthur explained, Merlin looking surprised. "Wow, you're quite young for that aren't you?" "Yeah, a bit. Not the youngest though. My father pulled a few strings, he's also a judge."

"Ok. Isn't that quite hard? Working in your father's footsteps?" Merlin asked, observing Arthur's suddenly grim expression. He looked up and straight into Merlin's blue eyes, that danced like swirling pools and smiled softly, "Is it that easy to tell?"

"Well, you are pretty easy to read. For me anyway." Merlin smiled back. The two carried on talking as they drank their drinks. Arthur had been hanging out with his friends from university where they all played hockey together in their team "The Knights". They all did different jobs around London now but they met up regularly to hang out. Arthur told Merlin about his family, how his mother had died when he was young and about his adopted sister, Morgana. When he had finished his anecdote about his sister always getting her way with his father, resulting in him forgiving her for spending ten-thousand pounds on a picture of a panda, he realised he must have been talking for ages.

"So, tell me a bit about you Merlin. Are you always performing?" Arthur asked. Merlin laughed, "No, not always. The key to it is leaving enough time between performances to attract people's attention, so it wouldn't work full time. No, it's a hobby. I work as an assistant at my adopted father's health-care shop."

"Oh." Arthur smirked, "So you sell granola and expensive urine?"

This time it was Merlin's turn to look irritated, "We sell high quality products that actually help people. It's all based on sound research that Gaius has done over many years…and it's also a pharmacists." Arthur laughed and Merlin let out a small smile.

"So you work with your adopted father." Arthur stated after finishing laughing, "What's that like?"

"Fine. He's an infuriating sometimes, he's always telling me to do this and do that, but…he's the closest I've ever had to a father." Merlin said seriously, Arthur thinking that such a thing was impossible up until this point.

"How long have you lived with him?" Arthur asked. "Since I was fourteen. My Mum couldn't look after me anymore; she couldn't make enough money to look after the two of us. So we all agreed that I would stay with her friend Gaius, and he eventually adopted me." Merlin explained. "I'm sorry." Arthur replied, "It's fine. I'm still in contact with her, and she's doing ok, and I'm fine. So there's no reason to feel sorry for any of us."

"Alright." Arthur replied, as he took another swig of tea. He then smiled. "So tell me, how did you do that trick?"

Merlin grinned, "Like I'm going to tell you that. A magician never reveals his secrets."

"Right." Arthur responded. There was silence for a few seconds and then he smirked, "Did you use mirrors, tricks with the light and have some people tipping water down from the tops of buildings?"

Merlin smirked, "No. You should stop guessing. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I really did."

"Oh yeah, try me?" Arthur taunted. Merlin laughed, "No. Not today. I think it's better if you have something to think about. But don't think too hard, you might not be able to handle it."

The two left the café when they had finished their drinks and went for a walk over to the river and started to walk down their continuing to talk about different things. Merlin found out that Arthur had learnt how to ride a horse at a young age and had won a few competitions. Arthur learnt that Merlin could recite the names of all of the compounds and uses of the items he sold in the shop. Arthur talked about his holidays around Europe, and Merlin explained that the furthest he had travelled was to Wales.

Eventually the sun had set and then two of them were sitting on a bench on the Thames. When Arthur checked the time he noticed that they had been talking for three hours, "I probably need to get going."

"Oh, ok. Where do you need to get to?" Merlin asked.

"Kensington Gardens. My house looks over the park." Arthur stated, Merlin letting out a whistling noise. "Wow, expensive. Alright then, give me just a second and I'll take you there."

"What?" Arthur asked. Merlin smirked. He then put his hands on Arthur's shoulders and said, "Close your eyes." Arthur did so and Merlin leant towards his ear, "Three. Two. One. Now you can open your eyes."

Arthur opened his eyes and suddenly they were standing outside of his apartment in Kensington. He looked at Merlin puzzled, "But. How did you?"

"A magician never reveals his tricks." Merlin repeated. He then turned around and started to walk away but Arthur grabbed his wrist.

"Wait." He turned Merlin around so he was facing him. "Can we meet up again? Maybe tomorrow, once I've finished work?"

Merlin grinned, "Sure. I'd like that. I'll find you this time though." Arthur smiled and let go of Merlin's wrist. Merlin then smiled and clicked his fingers suddenly vanishing into thin air again. Arthur stood amazed by the whole situation, not knowing what to do. He quickly picked his phone up out of his pocket and searched through his contacts. He then pressed one of them to phone up, "Call outgoing, Morgana Pendragon."


	3. Chapter 3: Confidants

"Hello Arthur. If you are phoning me to ask me to accompany you to another party then absolutely not! Not after the last time. If one more lawyer tries to make a pass at me then I swear to God I will stick something hard into somewhere they don't want me to stick something hard just to make an example and then-." Morgana ranted as Arthur laughed.

"Morgana. Stop. I'm not inviting you to another party. I just wanted to talk to you about something." Arthur replied, as he walked up to his door and put the keys in.

"Oh, that sounds ominous." Morgana laughed, "What's going on?"

Arthur walked up the stairs and entered his room. He then span around and fell backwards onto his bed, "I met a guy today."

Merlin walked into the alleyway behind the health shop. He then saw a door and clicked his fingers, unlocking it. He walked through the door and entered the high-ceilinged room with shelves of stock and books piled up. In the middle there was a desk with invoices stacked up. To anyone else it would look like a mess, but Merlin knew Gaius and his organisation system. Everything was set out so that if Gaius needed it then he could get it in a matter of seconds.

"Merlin. Welcome back." Gaius said as he poked his head out the kitchen, "I'm making your favourite!" Merlin grinned, and headed over to the elderly man who was walking around the kitchen observing the different pots and pans on the stove. Merlin watched him quietly for a few minutes; it gave him time to think about today. About what happened. About Arthur.

He hadn't expected what happened. Normally when he asks for a volunteer he gets someone who seemed all right, but was nothing out of the ordinary. He had occasionally spent some time with fans and people who had caught him after a performance. But with Arthur it was different, it was like the world had suddenly changed, gaining a new colour. Or if they discovered a new musical note that brought the piece together.

"What are you thinking Merlin, that's lame even by your standard." He thought to himself. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about him. Something that made him feel like he was Emrys, rather than putting on a performance as him.

"I never thought I would see the day when you'd stay silent for this long Merlin." Gaius commented, as he turned the hob off and started to drain some water from a pan, "What's warranted such a miracle?"

Merlin sniggered, then sat down on a chair by the dining table. "I met a guy today."

"So, what's he like?" Morgana asked, her voice full of thirst for gossip.

"Well, he's a bit…different. He's a performer. A street performer who performs magic tricks." Arthur replied, Morgana starting to laugh. He glared at the phone. "Have you heard of Emrys."

"No." Morgana replied, "But let me search him online. Thank goodness for the interenet, saves so much time. Give me a minute." Arthur heard Morgana tapping at keys and then laughing, "Oh wow. Ok, at least he's not a random performer. This guy has a massive following on Twitter. Oh and there's a video from today."

"Don't watch that!" Arthur shouted suddenly, but it was too late. Morgana started off with a small giggle, then exploded in laughter. Arthur sighed, "Morgana!"

"I'm sorry Arthur, but you're-" She started to laugh again, and Arthur knew he just had to wait until she was done. After a few minutes she managed to control herself. "Alright, I guess I can see what you see in him. He's not exactly hard on the eyes, and the banter you two had going on was quite sweet."

Arthur blushed slightly at the last comment, "It's just. He," Arthur paused for a second, "Seems to jump out. It's like there were hundreds of people there, but he was just the one thing that caught me. He looks normal, but there is something about him that just draws me in."

"Well, he is a street performer. It's his job." Morgana teased.

"I guess." Arthur replied weakly.

"He's a judge, but he's twenty-eight, so he's doing pretty well for himself." Merlin explained as he dug into the meat joint infront of him, "But there is something else about him. He just seems to be…light? He shines. I mean don't get me wrong, he's a bit of a prat at times, and is incredibly easy to wind up, but there's just something about him."

Gaius listened carefully as Merlin continued to explain about Arthur. It was something that Merlin really appreciated about Gaius; he always listened, thought and then gave his opinion at the right moment. It meant that Merlin could get everything off his chest so he was ready to hear what had to be said.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just enjoying his intrigue. Maybe I'm just looking for someone to see me dancing upon the stage performing tricks and at the end to wonder how I did it. Someone a bit clueless." Merlin sniggered.

"I think you need to see what happens." Gaius replied, "If I've learnt something in this world then it is that things are not always how they seem, especially with you Merlin." Merlin smiled, "You can expect a situation to turn out any number of ways but nothing is certain. One day you could be chasing after this Arthur, and then the next you could be somewhere completely different. He could be there, or he could not. But the advice that I do have is that you should live life trying to chase after these moments of happiness. If something good can come out of this, then that is the moment you want to look back on towards the end and celebrate, instead of wishing that you had done it."

Merlin smiled softly, Gaius was a wise man, and had been one of the best things to happen to Merlin. His guidance had helped him to become the man he was today, and he was sure that he was better for it.

"You're right. Thank you Gaius." Merlin smiled.

"So, when are you going to see him next?" Morgana asked.

"Tomorrow, after work. Don't know where though. He said he would come and find me." Arthur stated. Morgana laughed.

"Well, by the sounds of it he will be able to do that. He was able to sneak your phone away without you noticing. You would never have let that happen when we were kids." Morgana teased,

"Maybe you just weren't fast enough." Arthur retorted, making Morgana laugh again. "Right, like that was ever the problem."

"And before you start rattling off another fictitious story from our childhood I have to go. I have a busy day tomorrow." Arthur interrupted.

"Yeah you do." Morgana insinuated.

"Bye Morgana." Arthur said dryly.

"Bye Arthur. Say hi to the boy from me." Morgana laughed as Arthur hung up the phone. While his talk with Morgana was quite superficial, he did enjoy it. He knew that if he came to Morgana there would be equal parts mocking and support. Well, maybe a little bit more mocking. But she meant well.

He sat up and looked out of the window, seeing the moon and the occasional star behind the smog and light pollution of the London skyline. At the same time in the health shop across the city, Merlin was sitting in his room looking out of the window too, wondering how to make tomorrow's performance even better than today's.


	4. Chapter 4: Dragon in the Fire's Light

**Hello! I haven't done a foreword before, but I felt like now was a good time to do one. Thank you so much for the interest shown into this story! It's my first time writing fanfiction and seeing the response has been really really cool! I'm really happy that people are enjoying it.**

**I have generally aimed to release a chapter every other day, but today I've written another chapter and have found that I am two chapters ahead, so I'm posting another one today (that is longer than the other ones so far). I hope that everyone enjoys it!**

* * *

Arthur was studying everything around him as he went out of the court. He would normally do this if he needed to be worried about bumping into the press, but this time it wasn't about anxiety. It was trying to figure out where Merlin would spring from.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He was tempted to call. While Merlin had stated that he 'would find him this time', Arthur wasn't sure how he was going to do that. Merlin had shown himself to be resourceful, and so could probably find a way to track him down. Maybe he would track his phone, or maybe he would use some sort of trick to find him, like dousing. It was actually a bit creepy now he thought about it.

"You're thinking too much." A voice called from behind him, "It's a dangerous thing knowing you." Arthur turned around and saw the raven haired man wearing a crimson shirt, made to look shiny when light was shone into it, a black waistcoat and black jeans with dark red converse. He was caught in silence for a moment as Merlin grinned while walking towards him.

"Then straighten things out. How did you find me?" Arthur replied, he tried to sound more irritated and suspicious, but he was being distracted by the man walking towards him with the grin that could cut steel.

Merlin looked at Arthur with a quizzical expression, "You told me. You told me you worked here, I just turned up when I thought you would be finished."

Arthur stared at Merlin for a minute. Then he let out a sigh of relief, "Good. I thought you might have hacked my phones GPS or something."

"No. Don't be ridiculous, that was plan C." Merlin grinned. Arthur shook his head in disbelief.

"Anyway, I want to head home first and get changed." Arthur stated, Merlin nodded.

"Fair enough. Want to get a taxi?" Merlin asked.

"Well. I thought that you might. You know. Do that teleporting thing again." Arthur stated. Suddenly Merlin looked irritated.

"What, is that all I am to you? An easy means of getting across the city?" Merlin snapped.

"Oh, no, no. Of cause not." Arthur replied quickly, "But. You know. It is convenient."

"Oh! So I'm a matter of convenience!" Merlin retorted.

"Oh, no, no. Of cause not." Arthur repeated. He then looked Merlin in the eyes and grinned, "You're also nice enough to look at."

"Nice enough." Merlin said slowly. "Nice. Enough." Suddenly Merlin grabbed a branch from the ground and threw it at Arthur. Arthur held his arms infront of his face so they took the impact. He then started to run away as Merlin started throwing a few more objects he could find lying around on the ground.

After Merlin eventually caught up with Arthur, who had done a decent job at running away, the two settled to get a taxi so that Merlin knew that Arthur was not trying to abuse his talents. On the ride over they discussed what had happened in the day, about how Arthur had a busy day (he wasn't able to explain why, but he had to reside over quite a few cases today) and on the other hand Merlin had a rather dull day, but was able to talk in great detail about the process he had to go through to find out the best supplement to give to the woman wanting to strengthen her immune system (in the end they decided on reishi mushroom after going through the lists of things she had tried previously and things she didn't think would work).

When Arthur had finished laughing about Merlin's impression of the woman ("Mushrooms? MUSHROOMS? MUSHROOOOOOOOMS? ... Yes alright, that sounds great dear."), they had arrived. Arthur led Merlin into his house, where Merlin let out a whistle, "This place is enormous! I mean you live here by yourself. Why do you need so much space?"

"I don't really need it, I just have it." Arthur replied. "Anyway, I'm just going to go and change. Make yourself at home."

Arthur headed upstairs leaving Merlin in the entryway. He looked around and saw that it was mostly a long corridor. There was the entryway, where he was, which had a staircase upstairs to Arthur's room, and Merlin suspected the bathroom. Then down the corridor there was a living room, and after that a kitchen and then a utility room. Merlin decided to settle down on a sofa in the living room, which was extremely comfortable.

He stared at the television infront of him not knowing what to do with it. It was the size of one of Gaius' walls of books, "Why would you even need a TV that large?" Merlin sighed; it was a totally different world to his. He was used to getting by with the bare essentials. They had a television at Gaius', but it was a tiny thing that they only used for the standard programmes and watching DVDs.

But he stopped thinking about this when Arthur came downstairs and over to him. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a darker blue waistcoat ontop of a white shirt. Merlin couldn't stop himself from grinning upon seeing him walking over, causing him to raise his eyebrows, "What's that for?"

"Oh nothing. Just, you're also nice enough to look at." Merlin teased. Arthur sighed as he sat down on the sofa next to Merlin.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Arthur asked, "I'm guessing we're going out, otherwise I've dressed up a bit too much."

"We are. This time I'll take you there if you want." Merlin offered. "Yeah, sounds a bit more convenient." Arthur replied, causing Merlin to punch him on the shoulder. "Are you finished?" "Yes." "Alright then. Close your eyes." Arthur did as he was told and then after a few seconds Merlin said, "Ok, you can open them."

When Arthur opened his eyes he noticed that he was moving. He looked around and saw them rising up above the river and over the buildings. They were on the London Eye. Arthur looked around and saw that they were in their own section with a table with food on it and two chairs. He then looked over at Merlin who was grinning.

"Fancy." Arthur noted, as he walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. Merlin did the same, "How did you manage this?"

"Fans." Merlin replied nonchalantly, "One of them contacted me, turns out they were able to swing this as long as…well, I'll tell you about that later." Arthur raised his eyebrows, "I'm not going to be put in another embarrassing situation right?" Merlin grinned, "No. No. You won't need to do anything. Don't worry."

The two started on the meal. They started with the lobster salad, which Merlin didn't really know what to do with. While he was the one who managed to get this venue, he had never been to anything so fancy before. He had been on...dates? He assumed this was a date. There was enough flirting going on, he hadn't thought about it until this point. While thinking about this he forgot that he had never eaten lobster before and just copied Arthur, who obviously had done so before.

This was surely a date right? If it wasn't then what he had planned was going to go completely downhill at the end of the night. He looked at Arthur, who was taking a sip of wine and for the first time he felt uncertain. What if it was all bravado? What if he was making up what he thought Arthur felt? Merlin started to go in circles in his head, thinking about all the possibilities he hadn't thought about so far.

"Merlin, I don't think I've ever heard you be so quiet." Arthur chuckled as he grinned at Merlin, who flashed back a small smile, obviously in a world of his own, "What's wrong? Did I upset you earlier? You really do look good, honest."

Merlin's smile grew; it must be a date, surely. "Wasn't very nice."

"It was unfair…like when you threw sticks at me." Arthur commented.

"Why was that unfair?" Merlin stared at Arthur looking oblivious who started to laugh. Merlin smirked and started to laugh. He was sure. Everything was fine.

They finished their first circle and a waiter came in and took their plates, filled their glasses and brought their main course. A rack of lamb. This was more up Merlin's street and it tasted delicious. Arthur stared out of the window as they rose up above the city.

"It really is incredible. We are eating dinner on a glorified ferris wheel." Arthur commented.

"You mean you haven't done it before?" Merlin asked, stuffing another piece of lamb into his mouth.

"Don't assume just because I'm rich and my family are rich that I've done everything that takes large amounts of money. My father wouldn't want to go on this. He's a bit old fashioned, dinner should be had around a large table that is stationary in a grand hall or something." Arthur said a bit downheartedly, "Though he wouldn't disapprove of the food. It's good." Arthur took another mouthful of the dish.

Merlin smiled, he knew that Arthur's relationship with his father wasn't great. Money doesn't magically get you happiness, infact nothing can magically give you happiness. Merlin knew that. Happiness is something you needed to work for.

"I talked to my sister about you, she looked you up and found your twitter account," Arthur explained, "Did you have to make me look that embarrassing?"

"Well, the camera doesn't lie." Merlin smirked, "It just shows what happened."

"Great. Just great." Arthur muttered as he drank some more wine. Merlin laughed. In actuality he probably did go a bit too far. He probably shouldn't have pushed for someone to create the looped video of the water falling on Arthur's head in slow motion.

The two continued to chat as they went down again and they stepped outside for a short break while they set up for the pudding. The air outside felt cold as they waited around, "Can't you make it a bit warmer. Don't you have a trick for that?" Merlin looked offended again, "What's with all this 'don't you have a trick for this?' 'Don't you have a trick for that?' I'm not a phone, I don't have an app for everything!" "Right, right…but you could right?" Arthur replied, grinning. Merlin sighed and put his hands through his hair.

"Fine." Merlin replied. He next to Arthur and thrust his arm out towards Arthur, "Here. Take my hand." Arthur raised his eyebrows for a second, and then put his hand out and held Merlin's. Suddenly he felt heat spread from his arm, out to the rest of his body. The cold wind suddenly felt like nothing. It was like he was standing in a bubble.

"Impressive. So what you do, they aren't just tricks are they? Is this…real?" Arthur asked, Merlin flashed him a grin, "That's up to you to decide."

The two headed inside after a few minutes and then sat down for pudding. Merlin had the knickerbocker glory while Arthur had the chocolate ganache. Arthur wondered about Merlin. He had to admit that everything he had seen with him did seem real. The rain, there were probably ways to fake that. But the teleporting didn't make sense, and the warmth didn't make sense (he had no time to prepare for that). But surely magic isn't real?

His father had brought him up to see things as they were. A box was a box. A thief, a thief. A trickster, a trickster. He would say that magic didn't exist. That there is no such thing as a simple fix for all that goes wrong in the world. That believing in such things made you a lesser person. Arthur had listened to him, but had tried to keep himself open minded. He didn't dismiss other people's beliefs. He enjoyed listening to them if anything. But what did he believe. Did he believe in this?

They reached the top and Merlin smirked, "It's time." He jumped up off of his chair and the wheel stopped. Arthur looked over at him as he went up to the edge, "What are you doing?"

Merlin pulled out a camera phone from his pocket and grinned, "What?" Arthur asked as he stood up.

"Hello fans." Merlin grinned as he spoke into the phone. "This is me, Emrys and over here is my friend Arthur." He turned and moved the phone over so it was facing the stunned Arthur, "Arthur, wave." Merlin was grinning. Arthur didn't know what to do so he did a small wave and a flustered smile. Merlin turned the camera back to him, "Now today I have a special performance. This one goes out to CandisWhilber239 who made this night possible. Tonight, I'm going to resurrect a dragon."

Arthur stared as Merlin flipped the phone around and pointed it towards the river. Arthur, turned to Merlin as stepped back next to him, "What are you doing?" Arthur asked. Merlin just grinned, "Watch."

Merlin took a breath in, and suddenly there was movement on the water. Arthur stared down through the window and saw a burst of flame spiralling around on the waters surface. Suddenly the flame exploded and up from the river came a dragon made of fire. It span up into the sky and flew around, soaring over all of the buildings around the river. It darted through the gaps under Westminister Bridge and jumped up towards the Houses of Parliament. Arthur couldn't see people from up where they were, but he knew that this would have caught their attention.

The dragon flew over to Big Ben and perched ontop of it. It spread its wings out and let out a breath of fire into the sky. Arthur looked back at Merlin, who seemed like he was sweating a little bit, but he was still grinning that huge grin. Then suddenly, Big Ben started to sound the hour and the dragon jumped up and flew away towards the London Eye, towards them. It spiralled up and up until it reached where they were. The dragon looked straight at them. Merlin then walked towards it and put his hand on the glass infront of its face.

"He's insane." Arthur thought. Then Merlin ran back over to Arthur and said excitedly, "It's time to slay the dragon."

The dragon flew away and into the sky over the structure. It seemed to prepare to let out another burst of flame, but suddenly fireworks rose up into the sky. They passed through the dragon and exploded, causing flashes of fire and colour to spread across the skyline.

"Whoa!" Arthur exclaimed as the sky was illuminated above them. The dragon had exploded, but the fireworks continued screeching into the night's sky. Merlin laughed as he looked over at Arthur and smiled.

"What just happened?" Arthur asked, joining in the embrace, still stunned by everything.

"I just pulled off another trick." Merlin grinned. Arthur laughed, "It was incredible! How did you do that?". Merlin smirked, "A magician never reveals his trick." Suddenly he moved his head forward and kissed Arthur. Arthur was stunned for a minute, but then started to kiss Merlin back. The two continued to embrace as the fireworks burst high into the sky.


	5. Chapter 5: Cracked Eggshells

Merlin's head hurt. He slowly leant up, letting out a groan as he held himself up with one arm and rubbed his head with the other. Why had he drunk so much last night?

"Lightweight." Arthur chuckled as he walked into the room and switched the light on, making Merlin hide under the sheet and let out another groan. Eventually he pulled himself out from under the sheet to see that Arthur was dressed in a suit, seeming unaffected by the previous night. It then clicked that Merlin was currently lying on Arthur's sofa.

"What happened last night?" Merlin groaned weakly, causing Arthur to snort.

"Well. It seems you had a bit too much to drink. Even though I'd hardly call those three glasses of wine too much." Arthur teased, as he perched on the arm of the sofa, "But what do you remember?"

"We were on the London Eye. I created that dragon. Then…did we kiss?" Merlin asked,

"Oh good. I'm glad you remembered that at least." Arthur smirked. Merlin rubbed his eyes, "No regrets right?"

Merlin grinned, although weaker than usual, "None at all." Arthur smiled and then stood up and went over to the kitchen. Merlin slowly sat up and noticed that he wasn't wearing a top. He then looked under his sheet and noticed that he wasn't wearing much else. He sighed, "Did anything else happen last night?"

Arthur popped his head out of the kitchen and grinned. Merlin sighed as he continued to rub his head, "Don't worry." Arthur eventually called, "We got back to here, by taxi mind, you didn't seem in a state to do any magic after all that. I took you into my place, you insisted that you took your clothes off…" Arthur's smirked as Merlin looked worried, "…and then collapsed on the sofa."

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. "Brilliant." Merlin muttered. He then looked around and saw his clothes. He grabbed them and started to put them on, while trying to stay under the sheet.

"Alcohol and you don't really mix then? Good to know." Arthur continued to tease as he brought two plates through. "Cheese omelette. Is that alright?"

Merlin smiled as he finished putting his arms through his shirt and sat up to eat. He dug in but upon putting the first bite into his mouth he looked at Arthur with a disapproving look.

"What are you trying to do? Poison me? This is disgusting!" Merlin ranted, "Did you decide it would taste better with the egg shell in it or did you just not notice the massive pieces floating around in your omlette?"

Arthur chuckled, "Yeah. I don't really know how to cook. I normally just get stuff while going out to work, but I thought that you might need something now."

Merlin sighed, "Right. Let me show you. Do you still have some eggs?"

"Yes." Arthur replied. Merlin stood up and edged through to the kitchen. He then pulled out a frying pan, and put it on to heat up with a little bit of butter. He mixed his egg with a little bit of salt and pepper. "Do you have any herbs?" He asked.

"Um…not really." Arthur muttered. Merlin sighed, "You really don't cook ever do you." Arthur grinned and Merlin carried on mixing his omelette. Merlin grumpily poured the mixture into his, now warm pan. Arthur watched the ease by which he was cooking the thing that by now Arthur had left egg shell in, left out an ingredient (and there really were only three) and had burnt, "Where did you learn to cook?"

"No where in particular. I just learnt." Merlin muttered as he spread out the mixture. "Obviously not a morning person," Arthur thought. After a couple of minutes, Merlin sprinkled on the cheese and folded the omelette up. He served it onto a plate and then made another one. He then handed one to Arthur and the two went through to the sofa and ate them.

"This is much better," Arthur commented chuckling, while Merlin just ate. At the end of it though Merlin smiled and seemed in a better mood. He finished it by downing some water with some ibuprofen, which also seemed to help.

"So, when do you need to head off to work?" Merlin asked, still sounding a little rough.

"In about ten minutes." Arthur answered as he put the plates in the sink, "But you're fine to wait around if you need to."

"Nah, I should be alright." Merlin replied, "I feel better now. I should be able to make it back to my bed."

"Are you sure?" Arthur smirked. Merlin threw a pillow at him, which he managed to dodge pretty easily, "Alright then. I guess that's fine. But so you know. If you ever want to hang out here then you're more than welcome to. I don't have anyone else living here and it's got quite a lot of room."

"Thanks." Merlin smiled. Arthur washed up while Merlin put his bedding in the washing machine. He was now looking awake, but a little bedraggled: his waistcoat was on but not done up, his shirt wasn't buttoned up correctly and his hair was all over the place. But he didn't mind too much.

He sat infront of the TV for a few minutes and watched a bit of an episode of "Friends" while Arthur got ready. He was then set to go so Merlin went with him out of the door.

"When will I see you again?" Arthur asked as he shut the door behind them.

"Um, I might need to rest up today. We could meet up tomorrow?" Merlin suggested. Arthur nodded, "Yeah, sounds good. Do you want to go to a restaurant or to see a movie or something?"

"Yeah, a movie sounds good." Merlin smiled; there was no easy way for him to get into this state at a movie. They stood awkwardly for a minute and then Arthur hugged him, then a taxi pulled up and he said, "See you later." And off he went.

Merlin smiled, and then disappeared returning to his room to get some more sleep.

When he woke up, Merlin felt much brighter. It was around two in the afternoon, so he went and helped out in the shop. Gaius had not been the happiest after seeing Merlin had appeared in his room and gone straight to sleep, but knew that it was better to leave him to it and then shout at him later – and to be honest Merlin did a good job around the shop normally, so taking the occasional time off didn't concern Gaius too much. He could handle a few customers with no problem.

Merlin was trying to piece together what had happened with Arthur. It had all been quite fast so far and Merlin felt the need to slow it down. But his work allowed him to think. Due to the smell of alcohol that he seemed to be exuding, Gaius set him up doing inventory at the back, which meant he could consider everything.

He was definitely attracted to Arthur – he found it hard not to be, "He's ridiculous. He couldn't cook an omelette for goodness sake! But, that was a bit cute. That and those eyes, that hair, the way he looks at me, and while he's hopeless he's not stupid." Merlin thought. He smiled as he played through scenarios in his head. Maybe this was the guy, the person that he would spend his life with. It was all a bit too early to tell, and maybe he was just caught in the excitement of it all, but Merlin was happy.

He continued to think about it all as he checked through all the stock in the back.

Meanwhile, out of the city, a student was sitting in the middle of Stonehenge, the great stones of Nemeton as it used to be known. It was quiet today, and no one bothered him. He sat silently, breathing in the air and thinking about what he needed to do.

"It isn't time yet." He thought, as he stared at something that no one else could see infront of him, "I need some more time to prepare, but soon, soon this will all be over."

He slowly stood up and looked around him. He seemed to notice something, and for a moment he looked like he was going to explode in rage. But that moment passed and he returned to looking silent. "I won't be haunted anymore, I won't allow it. I will stop it, I will stop him!" But for that he knew that he needed time to go its course. Destiny would not allow him to meet them until the time was right.

He walked away from the stones calmly but coldly. As his watch showed another minute had passed towards when his time would come.


	6. Chapter 6: Faces from the Past

Arthur and Merlin sat on the sofa watching a film. Merlin leaned on Arthur, as Arthur gently moved his hands through his hair. It had been a month and a half since the dragon night (or the night when Merlin got wasted and stripped in his living room, as Arthur likes to remind him much to Merlin's dismay), and things couldn't be better.

Well, maybe.

Merlin stared at the film while Arthur focussed on him. He was incredible. After three months, Arthur still thought so. It wasn't just the tri-, magic, even though that was amazing. It was the way he walked into the room and everything changed. The way that he appeared and the boring parts of Arthur's life had been made interesting. The way that his grin was able to make anyone feel happier. There were so many parts to him that made Arthur feel…somehow complete. Like he was the other side of the coin.

But there was something wrong. Arthur could tell. Merlin was struggling with something.

Merlin was trying. He found Arthur was great. He was so normal, but unusual at the same time. Any regular person could see him and think, he's just another guy. He's all right: pretty good-looking, pretty smart, the fact he has lots of money isn't a bad thing either. But Merlin knew who he really was. He saw how he was different. He was chivalrous; he was always doing things for the good of others. Making the just decision, rather than the easy one. He was a good man, in an age where good men were rare and far between. He was stupid at times, he often ended up in tricky situations due to him stumbling in at the wrong moments, or for standing up to the wrong people, but he was kind. He was wonderful.

But Merlin couldn't relax. There was something inside of him, something that he couldn't totally hear telling him not to relax. Telling him to run. He didn't get why this was happening. It never happened in relationships previously, he was often the person that committed and then got dumped when they wanted to 'see other people'. But this time it was him.

He didn't like it.

Merlin couldn't stop himself anymore. His eyes glowed slightly and he stepped away from himself. He stood infront of the TV looking at the two. He smiled. They actually looked pretty sweet. He walked over to Arthur and smiled at him, but he couldn't see him, well at least not the him who was standing infront of him.

Merlin hadn't tried this before. He was using his magic to daydream. He had separated himself from his body, and was now able to manipulate everything around him. He turned away from Arthur and suddenly the room unfolded around him and he was standing in his room back at Gaius' shop, "Hello Merlin."

Merlin turned and saw himself sitting on the bed smiling at him. Merlin smiled back and sat down on the floor, "So, we're talking about Arthur right?" The Merlin on the bed asked.

"Yeah. Why do I feel like this? I mean the guy is…" Merlin started,

"Perfect for you." Suddenly the Merlin on the bed had changed into Arthur, who was smirking, "Why thank you Merlin."

Merlin raised his eyebrows and pointed at Arthur, "That's not helping."

"Sorry, is this more helpful." Arthur's face changed into Gaius', who looked like he was concentrating on what was happening, "How can I help you Merlin?"

"I just want to know why I feel like I can't…relax." Merlin sighed. He could tell that this was going to be confusing.

"Perhaps it's because you know that it is something real. Maybe you can tell that Arthur and you are a part of the same. That you are meant to be together." Gaius smiled. Merlin shrugged.

"Maybe, but I don't think that's it. I've been ready to accept that before. I was ready to say…"

"I love you." Merlin's mother was now standing above him with her hand on his shoulder. She was smiling warmly, in a way that made Merlin smile happily. He hadn't seen her face for a long time, "But you know that things do not always go well."

Merlin sighed, "You're telling me."

Merlin looked infront of him and the other half of his room had become a lakeside. Standing by the lake was a younger Merlin with a girl. She was beautiful, with long brown hair, wearing a beautiful blue dress. He must have been twenty at the time.

"Merlin. I have to go. I can't stay with you anymore." The girl was crying, as Merlin looked anxious.

"But Freya! Trust me, I can help you. Just give me time! I can make it better!" Merlin shouted as he grabbed hold of her hands. She quickly drew them away and she cried harder.

"You can't make it better Merlin! No one can! No one can help me escape my fate. The doctors have given up. My Dad has given up. I have given up. We're going away. We're going to spend the rest of my life travelling the world, seeing all of the places he wanted me to see." Merlin was the one crying now. She sighed and walked over to the lake. She stood a little of the way in, letting the water rush over her.

"But…let me come with you. I'm sure I can convince my Mum and Gaius. I can travel with you, be with you for the…" Merlin couldn't say it. He couldn't let the inevitability come out of his mouth. Freya smiled for a second, but then returned to looking upset.

"Merlin…I can't let you do that. It's not fair for you, and it's not fair for me. I can't…I can't stand looking at you! At the future I'll never be able to have! Merlin…I can't!" She shouted. She then ran away, out of the lake and away into the distance, far beyond where Merlin could see.

"But Freya. Freya! Freya I…" Merlin shouted after her. But then the seen was gone, and Merlin was in his room, with his mother's hand on his shoulder and a tear running down his cheek.

"Love you." Hunith whispered into his ear. Merlin hid away, using his bandana to hide his tears. But then she was gone, and instead Gaius sat infront of him again.

"So, is that why? You tried to give her everything. You were going to spend the rest of her life with her; you were going to give up your happiness for her. But she rejected you." He summarised stoically.

"But she didn't reject me." Merlin replied, staring Gaius down with his puffed up red eyes, "I know…I always knew. That she just said those things so that I wouldn't have to hold on to her. She didn't want me to suffer, so she took the choice away from me. She made it so that I didn't have to go through it with her."

"So how does that affect Arthur?" Morgana, Arthur's sister, a girl Merlin had met only a week ago. She had abducted him for coffee and to tell him all of the stories she could about Arthur. It was definitely a…revealing day; "Arthur's not dying, as much as I may wish it sometimes." Morgana laughed, "Are you afraid he is going to try and get rid of you? That he'll notice that you are…"

"…not fitting for my son." A man in the shadows finished, he sounded like pompousness dripped off of him. Merlin couldn't see his face, but knew that he was Uther, Arthur's father, "You're just a boy, a working class boy. You haven't even got a proper job, you just leech off of your adopted father. You can't aspire to anything. I have maids that are much better suited for my son than you."

Merlin laughed. The man's ignorance and stupidity was ridiculous. It's what Merlin gets for never meeting the man, he would probably be much more sensible in real life.

"I'm just going to ignore you. I know that that's not the problem, that shouldn't be a problem for anyone. We're not in the stone ages anymore." Merlin smirked, as the man in the shadow let out a "How dare you!".

"You're right. That was never an issue." Arthur grinned as he appeared infront of the shadow, causing it to fade away in his light, he walked over to Merlin and held his hand "If only it was that simple, I could help you with that. But this is something much more complicated. It's not something that would be a problem with anyone else, would it Merlin? It's because it's me. It's because I am Arthur Pendragon."

"He's right you know." Another Merlin appeared next to him, grinned as he leant on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur grinned, "Two Merlins? My sort of day."

Merlin frowned (deciding to ignore Arthur), "But I don't know why. What is the problem? Why is it a problem with you but not anyone else?"

"I don't know now, do I Merlin." Arthur retorted shortly. "You figure it out!"

"But I don't…" Merlin muttered.

"Maybe I can help." A girl smiled. She was wearing a pretty dress, with a daisy chain in her brown hair, which was plaited in an intricate pattern "Merlin. Do you remember me?"

"I…I don't…" Merlin could swear he knew this girl from somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Don't worry. It's fine really. I wouldn't have expected you to remember me. But what you do need to remember is that I am your friend, and you can trust me. Arthur is wonderful: he's brave, and just and does everything he can for those he loves. He someone that if you find, you should never let go of, for if you do then it will be the worst time of your life." The girl looked into the distance, seeming almost mournful and much older than she appeared, "But he always has a duty. He always has to put those that he needs to protect before himself and his personal feelings."

"So, my feeling is that one day, he may have to let me go for the good of other people. He'll sacrifice his happiness, for the good of everyone else in the world."

"He is a good man." A different Merlin said infront of him, "A good man, in an age where good men are few and far between."

Merlin nodded. Arthur then stood next to him and held his hand gently, "Do you understand now? As long as people need me, I have to put them first, and this may mean that I have to leave you. If I can correct one injustice, then it is worth my life to me."

Merlin smiled, "I understand…but why is that a problem? If you have to, then I will help you. If you need to battle the worst things in the world, then I will help you. There is no need for us to be separate while you save the world, for I'll help you every step of the way. I sw-"

"I swear this to you, Arthur Pendragon." An elderly man sat by a fire in the corner of the room. He looked like he had seen a thousand wars and only had a few more hours of life in him. He sounded gruff and looking at him made Merlin feel sore.

He looked at Merlin, but his face was in shadow, obscured by the flame behind him. Merlin walked over to the fire, but the man vanished, leaving Merlin alone by the fire.

Merlin no longer felt worried. He stared into the fire, watching it flicker somehow relaxed him, "I know what I need to do." The room faded around him and he was once again standing infront of the television. He smiled as he looked at Arthur. He then walked back into his body.

He opened his eyes. Arthur grinned, "Hey. You fell asleep for a while. Are you tired? Do you want to go home?"

Merlin smiled back, a soft, warm smile, "I don't want to be anywhere else."

He then leant up to Arthur and kissed him, and for that moment the two were at peace. Merlin felt like everything clicked, like Arthur was the other side of the coin.


	7. Chapter 7: A Magician Never-

The next ten months had been incredible. Arthur had been the happiest he had ever been in his life. While he thought he could tell that something was wrong with Merlin at first, it turned out that he was just being paranoid. Merlin had been amazing, someone who he never wanted to be without in his day.

And now he never had to.

He looked over at the raven-haired man who was asleep next to him in his bed. He always looked sweet while he was sleeping. His hair was a state though. It had all been ruffled up while he slept. Arthur wanted to tidy it up a bit, but he knew that doing so would wake him up and waking him up would just lead to a moody man stomping around the house.

Arthur looked at his hand and smiled. He played around with the ring on his finger, spinning it around as he thought about anything. The engagement had been fast. They hadn't even been together for a year yet, but both Merlin and he felt like they saw nothing else happening. They trusted each other, and wanted the best for each other. Merlin commonly told Arthur that 'whatever he needed to do he would support him'. Arthur smiled at the thought. He knew that Merlin would always be at his side.

Merlin was the one who raised the idea. Arthur asked him to move in a couple of months in, and since then Merlin had been supporting him with everything. One day he took him to the top of Everest and they had a picnic – some of the people climbing the mountain were puzzled by the strangely warm weather at the peak that day. One that day Merlin had offered him a transparent ring, made from crystals that he found deep in the earth in an underground cave. A pocket of space in the earth that no one else had visited, where he carved out the purest diamond and made two rings. Arthur smiled at the ring. It was completely smooth around the edge. Some would call that a waste, but when Arthur looked at it he could see the light dance inside of it. It was unusual, but beautiful. Or as he would say, Merlin.

Arthur moved himself out of the bed and started to get ready for work. He showered, got dressed and then went downstairs. When he got there he saw Merlin in the kitchen, cooking some breakfast. He was wearing one of Arthur's long-sleeved t-shirts that drowned out the skinny man, but he did not look bad at all.

"Hey." Merlin called out, not moving his attention away from the pan, as he cracked another egg into the pan, "Give me a few more minutes. I'm making bacon and scrambled eggs on toast, is that alright?"

"Sounds good to me." Arthur smiled, as he settled down on the sofa and turned on the news. The top stories were announced, but only one piqued Arthur's interest – The case against the person said to have 'controlled juries and outcomes in the courtroom', a case that he would be residing over today. Morgause Paravel. Arthur had read the files. If she had done what she is accused of, then she had control of most of the world. The people she allowed to walk free would do whatever they wanted for her, and the people that got sentenced would never trouble her again. This case was not going to be easy.

Merlin brought the plates over and handed one to Arthur. They watched it in content silence as Arthur thought. Merlin knew what he was thinking about. While Arthur did not discuss what happened in the courtroom, Merlin wasn't stupid. He saw his reaction whenever the subject of Morgause was raised. He also knew that Arthur might be the one person able to stop her. This wasn't due to skill of conviction, Arthur was just as good as the next person, but this required someone who was incorruptible – something that Merlin believed that Arthur could be. Merlin knew that in order to be that he would have to support him to the best of his abilities, to make sure that everything was balanced everywhere else in his life so he was only having trouble at work.

Arthur smiled at Merlin as he finished his plate, "That was wonderful. Thank you." He kissed Merlin, who laughed as he took the plates away. "Just be lucky you chose to marry someone who can cook you something, you'd probably be dead by now otherwise."

"I survived before Merlin!" Arthur shouted through to the kitchen.

"Right, if you call what you did surviving. You've got to admit, this tastes much better than anything you got before." Merlin called as he washed the plates up.

"I dunno, the breakfast sandwiches from that stand outside of the court were good." Arthur teased, he could see Merlin pick out a knife from the knife rack and twirl it in his hand. He decided silence would be better at this point.

Merlin finished the washing up and then sat down next to Arthur, "Are you working at Gaius' today?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah. I'm doing a few hours just to make sure he's alright. He's been getting a lot of new customers since the other shop down the road shut, so he needs an extra pair of hands to make sure everything gets done." Merlin explained. Arthur nodded, "Is there anything I can get you for later Arthur?"

"Nah, nothing in particular," Arthur answered. He then stood up, "I'd best be off."

"Alright. Fancy a ride?" Merlin grinned, causing Arthur to smirk back.

"I'll take the taxi today. There will probably be enough press around that me magically appearing will make people get the wrong idea." Arthur laughed. He then kissed Merlin again, "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Merlin called as he walked out of the door. Merlin then pulled his laptop over. While he was telling the truth that he was going to help Gaius today, he didn't mention that he also had something else planned. He had started circulating rumours about his next performance, something he was hoping would be able to lighten Arthur's mood after work today.

But when he went onto his twitter account he noticed something strange. Hundreds of thousands of people were tweeting something linked to him, but also to something else with the hashtag #themagicianreveals. Merlin clicked on it and was linked to a selection of videos. He clicked on one and saw a man, dressed in black with a mask concealing his face.

The man was talking on the camera about Merlin's performances, then as the video progressed he said, "And now its time I show you how you do it. The magician never reveals his tricks, but maybe it's about time he does." Merlin then looked astounded as the masked man gave an explanation of how Merlin could have done one of his first tricks, where he levitated everyone standing outside of Buckingham Palace. Merlin knew that the explanation was wrong, the 'magician' was explaining it using fancy equipment instead of the answer that Merlin knew, but the scary thing was that he then performed the trick and it worked. At the end the man, who Merlin could tell was smirking even behind the mask said, "What do you say Emrys? Why don't you tell us how you did it? Reveal to us how you do your tricks! Tell us your secret!"

The video ended, and Merlin looked vacantly at the screen.

He scrolled down his twitter feed, and saw the public outcry for him to 'reveal his tricks', 'tell his secrets' and 'show us how to do it'.

"That's not good," Merlin muttered.

There were only a few ways for this situation to go. Merlin could reveal his secret, which would just lead to more questions as Merlin didn't really have an answer for how he did it, and the answer he could give would probably get him locked away in some institute somewhere (he was honestly surprised that they hadn't tried to do this before). Merlin could reveal that the guy making the videos got it right, but then he may have to explain tricks in the future and he doesn't know enough to explain them in that way that the guy had. Also it took away a lot of the fun from the tricks. Finally Merlin could not say anything, in which the public was tear him apart and he would never be able to do tricks again without people raising up against him.

Overall things were not going to be the same again, and none of those ways were appealing to Merlin. He would have to do the fourth way, to vanish. But he didn't like that. While he didn't have to do his tricks, they did make things a lot more fun. They had become a large part of his life and, of cause, were how he and Arthur met. He would hate to stop doing them. This added with the fact that people would recognise him, meant that he would not be left alone without people asking 'what his secret is'. It was not a good situation.

And it was all happening when he needed to be supporting Arthur and making sure that things were not happening to distract him from his case – just brilliant.

It was at this point that he got an e-mail. He noticed it was from TheDarkMagician. "Yu-Gi-Oh reference?" Merlin joked in his head as he clicked it. It read:

"Emrys,

I am the person who is currently destroying your online reputation. By now you should have realised that there is no easy way to save yourself – and you might just not want to. But we both know that my explanations are not how you do your tricks. We both know about your very real magic.

But I'm not interested in you revealing that. All I want is for you to tell Arthur the truth, the truth about all of us that you have been keeping a secret for a long time now.

I suggest you meet me in Trafalgar Square at 15:15 today to discuss this. If you do not then I may be forced to take more drastic actions, like revealing to the nations where you and your precious Arthur live. Or maybe I'd tell Uther about everything you and his son have been up to? Trust me Emrys, I have many more plans than this that I'll enact if you don't meet with me.

See you soon,

The Dark Magician."

Merlin felt panic spread through him. All these things would be destabilising for Arthur. Whoever this person is, whatever they plan to do, Merlin could not let them do it. He seemed to know a lot about them, about Merlin personally. Merlin would normally be cautious, but the fear of the effect this could have on Arthur piled up on him. Merlin knew that he needed to be strong for him; otherwise Arthur would never be able to stop Morgause. If Arthur was weak for a minute, then he could end up agreeing to something he doesn't want to do and could lose himself forever. This case could change Arthur forever. Merlin had to do everything he could to help him, which meant he had to protect him from everything else in the world. He typed back,

"Looking forward to it.

Emrys."


	8. Chapter 8: The Dark Magician

Merlin stood in Trafalgar Square watching everything around him. He was early. He was never early, but he knew for this he had to be. He had to be sure who was coming for him; he didn't know what was going to happen so he needed to feel like he was ready.

Normally he would never do something so stupid as walk into a trap like this. The chances of something worse happening because of this meeting were…well almost certain. But he needed to take the risk that he could stop everything. There was also something at the back of his mind.

"What if this is Morgause's doing?" Merlin thought. What if she was targeting him to get to Arthur? It wasn't beyond what he knew about her. She could probably get someone to do this if she found out who was residing over her case. It wasn't like Merlin and Arthur had proclaimed their relationship so that everyone could see it, but anyone with a computer would see them on the dragon day. Could follow the forum threads where people had tried to find out about Arthur, and then eventually done it. There was an easy to find chain linking the two together. Merlin never considered it, but perhaps they needed to be more careful.

The time drew closer. Merlin watched the square. He was standing by one of the lion statues, giving him a look over the entire square and up to the museum. It was busy, people rushed around as they always did, with some people looking normal, some looking anxious, some looking like they were up to no good, however it was just as possible that what was happening with them was nothing to do with him.

Then his watch said "3:15". At the same time beeping sounds could be heard all over the square. People stopped and looked at their watches, while Merlin started looking around for the person who wasn't checking their watch – the person who had done this. This was a good trick, one that Merlin would have done to get attention, meaning that there was someone who was about to do something bigger.

Then he saw him. The black hooded man from the video stood ontop of Nelson's column. Merlin stepped out of the shadow of the lion and looked up the column. He hadn't seen the man approach, which made Merlin curious, "What if he…"

The man threw his hand into the air and suddenly all of the people around Merlin fell to the floor. Merlin looked around at all of the people. The man then pointed at him.

"Is that…Emrys?" A crowd member asked as they stood up from the ground. Suddenly news was spreading around to all of the people. Even those who didn't know Emrys the Performer were finding out as they searched on their phones and listened to the cries by the previous fans in the audience who were shouting for Merlin to 'tell them the truth!'

The man on the column then jumped crashing down on the ground next to Merlin. He put his hand on his shoulder, which made Merlin feel like he was captured prey, "I don't trust this man for a second. I can tell this now. There is something inside of me that tells me that this man is…just wrong." Merlin thought, as he faced the man with the covered face.

"Why don't you tell them the truth Emrys?" He asked quietly.

"Stop this now. I don't want any trouble; I will do anything that you want. Just stop this now. If this is about Morgause then we can talk about it, come up with something." Merlin rambled; he didn't mean what he said. He was scared and everything was feeling tense. The audience were berating him and being held by the man he knew he couldn't trust. It felt more like an execution.

"Morgause…No, it's not about Morgause. Emrys…I can make this easier for you." The man then let go and clicked his finger. Suddenly everyone in the square fell down again, but this time they were all…asleep, Merlin checked this quickly before looking back at the man.

"Who are you?" Merlin asked. The man slowly lifted his hood off and took away his face covering. This revealed a man who looked a bit similar to him. His hair was a bit lighter, and curlier, but his skin was the same colour. He looked a bit younger and his eyes were smaller and piercing, but there was something about him that reminded Merlin of himself.

"My name is Mordred," The man announced as he stood infront of him, "And once again, I am your nightmare."

Merlin felt anxious for a second, but then stopped himself. He smirked, "Nightmare? Who do you think you are?"

"What?" Mordred asked,

"It's a bit cliché." Merlin laughed, a little bit too much due to his nervousness, "I mean, you put people to sleep and then call yourself my 'nightmare'. It's a bit, well, lame."

Mordred stood in silence for a moment, glaring at Merlin, "Shut up."

"Real intimidating," Merlin smirked. Now he could see him, he felt that he could do something. There was just a boy infront of him; he could talk his way out of this, "Though I do like the trick. I learnt to do it when I was a kid, but you know, always good to reuse the old stuff…unless this is new for you?"

"No, not new. Very, very old." Mordred emphasised as he dropped his face coverings on the ground and walked towards Merlin, "Now, can you be serious? You were always so serious in the past when I knew you, as much as you would laugh I could see how you really felt behind it all."

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked, simply put confused, "I don't know you. I don't think I've met you before in my life. I mean. If I knew of someone else who could do this, I would have tried to get to know you, definitely."

Mordred laughed for a second, and then looked Merlin straight in the face, "You don't have a clue do you?"

"What?" Merlin repeated. Mordred then burst into manic laughter for a minute, but then stopped himself suddenly, instead glaring at Merlin again.

"You really don't remember. But, you always remembered. I mean, every single time you remembered!" Mordred made his way towards Merlin and grabbed him thrusting him back and pinning him against one of the large lions, "Why do you not remember?" He shouted. Merlin was frantically looking around for something he could use to get the man off of him, but there was nothing. Just him…with his magic.

He breathed in and then pushed against Mordred with his mind, sending him flying backwards towards the column. Mordred stood up and started to glare again. He then smirked.

"You made yourself forget," Mordred was chuckling slightly, but it made Merlin more nervous, "You made yourself forget everything. Well that would be fine for you wouldn't it! I mean, you did some bad things before but you always did it for good. You were always a good man doing things that were sometimes questionable for a good man. You didn't have to live like me." Suddenly Merlin started to be lifted into the air. He wasn't controlling himself this time, so it felt intrusive and horrible. He was certain he wouldn't do this to other people in the future, "Do you understand yet Merlin? I guess not, you've always been a bit thick."

Merlin didn't like this guy.

"I guess it can't be helped." Mordred muttered. Merlin then dropped from the sky and slammed into the ground. Pain spread up his arm and leg, which took the main force of the fall. He slowly steadied himself up to look at Mordred who was now standing over him, "I'll have to make you remember."

Mordred's eyes glowed brightly, bright enough for Merlin to see as he felt his head getting burrowed through by thousands of painful invisible needles. He shouted in agony, until suddenly everything went white around him.

He was no longer in Trafalgar Square. He stood in the middle of the white room and then saw it. Saw an elderly woman infront of him. She smiled at him.

"Hello Merlin. I'm sorry that it has come to this." The woman looked sincere, but for some reason she was smiling, a smile that Merlin recognised.

"Morgana?" Merlin asked. The woman nodded and then took Merlin over to a bench in the middle of the white. The two sat down and looked at each other, "But…how can you be Morgana? Morgana is young."

"I am Morgana Pendragon young warlock," She smiled, Merlin not knowing why she was using such an archaic term, "But I must get to the point, we don't have much time. Merlin. If you are seeing this then either you have chosen to remember or you have been forced to. Either way I wish you luck, it is not an easy burden to bear. You have hopefully come to a decision about what you are going to do. I hope you have chosen wisely."

Morgana held Merlin's hand, who was now confused to the point of explosion, "Merlin. You are going to remember everything, everything that has happened to us in all of your lives."

"What?" Merlin asked, "What do you mean? What do you mean past lives?"

She smiled softly, "Merlin. It is not the first time that you have lived."

Morgana stood up and then men started to appear through the white. A man with a walking stick wearing a suit that looked like was made in the Victorian era stood next to her. Next to him was a man dressed in what looked like medieval clothing, with armour and a tunic. Next to him was a man in a long black robe with a bird mask on, the type Merlin had once seen in a book in history class about the Black Death.

"These are all you." Merlin pointed, as other people walked in. "Do you remember the prophecy?"

Merlin rubbed his head, but suddenly words came to his lips that were not his, "In Albion's greatest hour of need, Arthur will rise again." Merlin spoke slowly, as suddenly visions flashed in his head, visions of each of these people from distant times. Too many to focus on. Too many all at the same time. Just too many.

"Merlin. You have to focus!" Morgana called out to him as she knelt down infront of him and put her hands on his shoulders, "You are starting to remember, I know it hurts but focus. We don't have much time and you asked me to pass on the message." Merlin tried to block the voices from his head, wincing in pain as he focussed on Morgana.

"There is a simple fact that we all knew when Arthur died…the world always needs Arthur. Kings and queens came and went when Arthur died, but none could unite the people like him, none could put into action what we needed to save us. So Arthur rose again, and then died again, and then rose again." Morgana explained.

"The cycle started." A Merlin called over from the crowd.

"The cycle?" Merlin asked,

"The cycle of Arthur's birth and death…but it wasn't just Arthur. Everything Arthur did was because of the people in his life. They brought back us too. You, me, everyone." Morgana continued, "And we all played our roles again and again to make Arthur into the man he needed to be. The scenarios were always different. Arthur never did the same thing, but he always did the right thing. Always the thing that made the world a better place."

"But…" Merlin struggled to get the words out, but continued to try, "Arthur…the Arthur you are talking about…he was a legend. King Arthur. He didn't exist."

"Didn't you find it funny? King Arthur and Merlin sitting around a table together?"

"Well…it wasn't a round table so I found it possible to contain myself," Merlin said dryly. Morgana laughed, while Merlin continued to look pained. The voices were starting to die down. He was starting to understand. "But…we can't be. We're us."

"You are, and so much more." Morgana took her hands off of Merlin and stood up, "But you asked me to show you, to remind you of what you found out. To remind you of the choice that you have."

Morgana gestured over to a gap in the white. Merlin saw another old woman standing with a version of himself dressed in a soldier's uniform that was covered in blood…blood that Merlin knew to be Arthur's, "Emrys." The woman murmured, "I have given you the ability to choose, a choice that only you can make."

A tear moved down the soldier Merlin's eye while the woman continued, "When you believe that the world no longer needs Arthur, then you can make him remember. The only person he will believe will be you. You just need to tell him about your collective past and it will all return to him."

The soldier looked down at his trembling, mucky, bloody hands as the woman walked around him, "Once he knows he can end it, if he believes that the world is safe then he can end it. He can stop the cycle and you can be free, free to never return, free to never experience his death over and over again."

The soldier looked up and into the distance, "I won't do it. I have seen him die so many times, and I have seen my friends betray me so many times over that I am never surprised. I have seen good people be turned into evil and very few return. But I will not tell him! Arthur is the one person who can save Albion, save everything. Without him, it would fall apart. He is worth all of the pain and suffering, all of the evil in the world. For one good man, it is worth it."

"That is one belief," The woman commented as she looked Merlin in the eye, "But it is also possible that the world with survive. The legend of Arthur will live in the hearts of many. His deeds may have already made people who can do what he can do. But the only way to know that is to end it."

"Well I will not! I will not end him!" Merlin shouted. He then ran away from the woman, who stared on at him looking at peace. The soldier ran towards Merlin and then disappeared. Merlin touched his face. He had been crying too. He looked over at Morgana, who nodded to him.

"You have the choice Merlin. You wanted time to think, so we worked together to stop your collective memory, to stop you from remembering all of your previous lives. But now you have to choose, are you going to let this continue? Are you going to let us all continue on this cycle for the rest of time?" Morgana said quietly, "The choice is yours Merlin. Only you can make it."

The versions of Merlin started to disappear around them as Merlin stood with Morgana. She smiled at him, "See you soon Merlin." She then vanished. The white started to fade away and Merlin returned to Trafalgar Square. He stood infront of Mordred, who was looking stern. Only now Merlin knew why.

"Do you remember?" Mordred asked.

"I remember…" Merlin muttered. He then looked Mordred in the eyes, and he could tell why he looked so cold, "Mordred. How did you remember?"

"I found a way. I found a way and I learnt everything." He explained, suddenly looking more like a child in pain to Merlin, who felt so old.

"You could have forgotten." Merlin stated. Mordred looked at him, he would have been crying if tears were possible for him anymore.

"I can't. Not any more, not now that I know. I'm trapped Merlin. I always exist with one ending to my life. Arthur dies, and I die. I always die a villain. I can do good before then, and I have, but I always meet you two and I always kill him. I always kill the reason that we are all here. The good man. I can't stop myself, I always get caught in it and there is always a reason, but the reason isn't good enough. Emotions get in the way, but I can see that when I think about the past." Mordred was shaking, he leant back against the stone, "I am always a monster. In this society people talk about the legend of Arthur and his death at the hands of me. I am always painted in a bad light…I will not do it again Merlin. You have to end it!"

Merlin looked at the ground. A part of him was confused, but he still knew what he needed to do, "No Mordred. I won't do it."

"What?" Mordred shouted as he grabbed Merlin again, "But you remember! You can't live it with it either, right? You made yourself forget. You didn't want to live with his blood on your hands again."

"Mordred…" Merlin tried to comfort the boy putting his arm towards him, but Mordred backed away letting go of the man, "Mordred. The world needs Arthur. We wouldn't be coming back again and again if they didn't need him. Arthur must live for the world to be at peace."

"Some peace that is. Did you see the wars? Have you see the evils in the world? The world isn't at peace with Arthur." Mordred was furious and distraught. Merlin knew all that had happened now and knew exactly why he felt that way. He couldn't handle it.

"But the world will always be better with him then it would without," Merlin smiled, a broken smile but one that he could manage. Mordred stood up.

"I won't let you do this Merlin. You will tell him. I'll make sure of it." Mordred disappeared and the people around Merlin started to wake up. Merlin sighed and then vanished. There would be no grinning today. He reappeared outside of the lake of Albion, a lake near Glastonbury Tor. He returned to here in each of his lives. It changed, and moved, but the gateway still existed. He liked to stare at it in the past, but then it became obsession. He now stood there and suddenly started to cry for the past lives as they all flashed back to him, all the moments when Arthur died.

"I can't let it end." Merlin thought, "As much as this hurts, a world without Arthur…it would all fall apart."

When it started to get dark he returned to the house and saw Arthur. He smiled at him and the two ate dinner. They talked about things and Merlin laughed, but they both knew that he wasn't feeling normal, "I feel a bit sick." Merlin excused himself. Eventually he headed to bed and slept, knowing that this was how it was going to be. He sighed as Arthur snored next to him, forever clueless.


	9. Chapter 9: Anniversaries

Merlin was out early. He smiled as he got everything ready. Today was his and Arthur's one-year anniversary, and he was going to make it spectacular.

Since the events with the Dark Magician, the public had calmed down about his performances. The Dark Magician revealed that what he did was a fake and Merlin followed this explaining that the fun was in not knowing. The betrayal of Mordred managed to help Merlin to get the public to forget the question that Mordred never intended to be about the way he does his tricks. Merlin understood that now. He wanted him to reveal to everyone who he was, and more importantly to Arthur.

"He wanted rest. I just wish I could give it to him." Merlin thought. He still felt nervous about Mordred, but he understood how it was horrible for him.

But now wasn't the time for Mordred, it was for Arthur. Now that the public was not asking for his blood, Merlin was able to do a trick again. He had started a countdown, and Arthur knew that Merlin was planning something, but wasn't sure what.

It was all ready. Merlin smirked as he looked at everything. It was going to be good. Merlin teleported back. He was back in his room where he got changed and went back into bed next to Arthur. He lay for a bit and eventually managed to get to sleep.

Arthur woke up at the normal sort of time, but he didn't move. He didn't put his hand on Merlin, not yet. He had been asleep, but it hadn't made it easier.

Court had not gone well yesterday. Morgause was going to walk free, and Arthur knew it. The prosecutions case was weak, and getting weaker with every step Morgause made. While in the courtroom, when she didn't think others would notice, she was making signs and doing transactions with parties that she could get contact with, which then lead evidence disappearing or something like that. Of cause there was no proof linking it to Morgause, but Arthur wasn't blind, he could see what was going on. But he had to be fair.

Also three people had attacked Arthur since he started the case. He had kept it hidden from Merlin, but he had to go to the hospital once. Everything was a warning, Arthur knew that, but it was a lot. Arthur looked at Merlin, who he knew was suffering with something that he wasn't talking about. He always knew when Merlin was suffering; most of the time he wouldn't talk about it. It wouldn't help Merlin if he were checking him all the time. If Merlin did find out then it would probably mess him up more than he was messed up already. Merlin would not be able to cope, and Arthur couldn't have that.

He looked over at Merlin, who was snoring loudly. He looked peaceful at the moment, without a care in the world. Arthur snuck out of bed and headed downstairs. He went into the kitchen and started to make two omelettes. He had watched Merlin enough times, he was sure he could do it this time. He put it all together and then brought it upstairs on a tray with drinks of orange juice and some fruit. He opened the door and placed the food out on the bed. He then leant in over to Merlin and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "Good morning."

Merlin smiled, still keeping his eyes closed, "Good morning." He then opened his eyes and leant up, he looked around and noticed the breakfast.

"I made breakfast!" Arthur announced grinning. Merlin continued to smile, making it look weirder by the second.

"You made breakfast." Merlin said sounding slightly less enthused.

"I made breakfast." Arthur ignored Merlin as he passed a plate over to him and grabbed his own. The two started the food and Merlin was surprised at how good it was. Arthur really had been trying his best. It wasn't perfect, Merlin still found a little bit of shell, but it was cooked properly and it was seasoned pretty well.

"That was great. You know, for a prat," Merlin smirked.

"Idiot." Arthur grabbed Merlin into a side hug and smiled. This was enough to make all of the courtroom problems to see like nothing. Merlin made him happier than anything else he had experienced in this world.

The two relaxed in bed for a bit, just enjoying each other's company. But eventually they chose to get up. Merlin got ready first so that he could put the finishing touches to everything. When it was all ready he stood in the lounge, wearing a red bandana with a blue long-sleeved top and a pair of brown skinny trousers. He wasn't dressing up today, well, apart from the hat, he always used the hat.

But then smirked as he saw Arthur. He was wearing white trousers and a blue and white polo shirt, "Hello sailor." Merlin joked. Arthur sighed, "Your bandana's stupid."

Merlin looked horrified, "You…you said…right, fine. Today. Not happening!" Merlin vanished, and Arthur sighed as he finished walking down the stairs. He then called out, "You're behind the TV right?"

"…yes," Merlin called out. He then walked out and Arthur smirked. "Come on then, where are we going?"

"Just you wait." Merlin grinned.

Arthur grabbed the top hat that Merlin had left on the side and put it onto Merlin's head. The two smirked at each other and then they vanished.

Arthur opened his eyes and grinned upon seeing where he was, "Covent Garden." Arthur chuckled. The place where they first met. Arthur looked around him to find Merlin, but he wasn't with him. He slowly made his way out and towards the square. Currently there was nothing in particular happening, just lots of people walking around. There were a few other performers, but they were not doing anything exciting.

Arthur tried to find Merlin, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. But then Arthur felt a tap on his shoulder; he turned but didn't see Merlin. Instead he saw his friends: Lyon, Gwaine, Percy and Elyan. "Guys! What are you doing here?" He grinned excitedly as they hugged each other.

"Well, obviously we were invited by Merlin." Lyon laughed at Arthur.

"Of cause. Have you seen him yet?" Arthur asked.

"No. Surely you came here with him?" Elyan wondered.

"I did, but you know him. He's a magician. He…disappeared." Arthur sighed, while the knights grinned.

"Got to keep a better leash on him." Gwaine joked, causing Arthur to look at him with the same baffled look he had used when he said something ridiculous or irritating for all of the years he had known him.

"Don't forget me boys!" A voice called out from the crowd. Morgana made her way over to them, looking stunning as she hugged her brother, "I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"Did he tell you what he was planning?" Arthur asked,

"A few bits. He told me where I need to take you." Morgana smiled as she took Arthur's hand and led him through the crowd to the middle of the square, as the knights followed behind them. In the middle of the square was a table set up with scones, jam, cream and…

"So he brought the tea this time." Arthur laughed as he sat down on one of the seats. Morgana then stepped back as a hat appeared infront of Arthur on the table. Arthur picked the hat up and looked inside seeing a scrap of paper that read, "Look up."

Arthur looked up and Merlin standing on air above them. He grinned at him, as other people started to notice around them. Merlin did a bow to the crowd (and one to his planted cameras, Arthur knew he was doing it). Then Merlin pulled a few apples out of free air and started to juggle them.

Arthur laughed. Juggling. Merlin could be changing the weather conditions, or creating dragons, or moving the moon (something he regretted before) and he chose to juggle.

He was not bad at it. He had five apples that were all being juggled around while he was floating in the air, but Arthur had a feeling that the apples were probably being controlled by magic. After a while Merlin stopped juggling and grabbed the apples. However, one dropped. Merlin looked horrified as one started to drop down and landed on Arthur's table.

Arthur was trying to decide whether Merlin had messed up or not. He then looked at the apple and noticed that there was a split through the middle. Arthur opened it up and read the words engraved into the apple out loud, "Are you ready?"

The crowd looked like they were about to burst with anticipation. They all seemed to know that juggling wasn't going to be the peak of Emrys' performance.

Suddenly the table started to shake, and then rose up into the air. Arthur smirked as his chair started to rise up. Arthur pushed the chair away from him and was now floating in the air. He looked around him and noticed that the crowd, the knights and his sister were floating too. Arthur was still curious as he floated up towards Merlin, this can't be the main trick. These were all things he had done before.

As he floated suddenly butterflies started to stream around everyone, shining with all the colours of the rainbow. They darted around and illuminated everything in a beautiful light. Arthur liked them, but knew that Merlin still had more in him.

He then reached Merlin and smiled at him, "What's your plan?"

Merlin laughed. He then held onto Arthur's hands and grinned, "Are you ready?"

Arthur looked around at everyone who was floating up around them, and then nodded. Then suddenly they all teleported. One second they were in London, then in Antarctica looking down at the glaciers and a group of polar bears. After that they arrived on the planes of the Serengeti, looking at the sun glowing orange in the sky. They then arrived in Time Square in New York, with large crowds noticing them and taking photos. They then disappeared again, this time appearing on the Andes with a friendly group of llama.

Eventually, after travelling to another few place and continents they arrived back in London, but this time ontop of Big Ben. Merlin smirked as they all looked over the edge. He then walked forward, turned back to face Arthur and grinned, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Arthur shouted as the bell started to chime. Merlin then held out his hand. Arthur grabbed it; the two looked at each other and grinned. They then jumped off of the end of the clock tower. They started to hurtle towards the ground and all Arthur could hope is that Merlin knew what he was doing, as everyone else started to jump too. Suddenly there were hundreds of people jumping from the top of Big Ben and plummeting down to the street below.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a flaming dragon appeared. It roared as it crashed through the sky and each of the crowd members landed on it, with Merlin at the front.

Arthur looked in disbelief as he noticed that they were not burning or falling. Somehow the dragon was really carrying them, but it wasn't the dragon, it was Merlin.

Arthur had given up trying to figure out how his fiancé could do all the things he could do a long time ago, but seeing him like this made him seem impossible. What he was doing went against everything that is normal and right in the world.

But he was Merlin. Arthur would be fine without the magic, for the important thing to him was Merlin.

The dragon flew over the London skyline, soaring around Big Ben and the London Eye, and eventually returned to Covent Garden as the sun started to set. It landed in the middle of the square and then disappeared, returning each of the people to the ground.

"That's impossible." Everyone in ears distance said at some point at Merlin smiled at Arthur and said, "Happy Anniversary."

Arthur laughed, the situation was ludicrous. But then his laugh changed when he saw the gun next to his head. He turned and saw a black haired man standing behind him, his eyes fixed on Merlin.

"Emrys, tell us the truth." Mordred shouted as the gun shook next to Arthur's head.


	10. Chapter 10: The Trap

The scones were left undisturbed on the table. The tea was getting cold. The crowd had started to move away. Why weren't they moving? Why weren't they sitting down to have the tea?

"Oh yeah, the gun." Arthur thought as he felt the gun being pressed further against his temple. He was in shock; surprisingly he never expected this to happen. He looked Merlin straight in the eye. He was looking scared, which helped, it meant that Arthur knew how he was meant to be feeling.

"Emrys. Tell us the truth. Tell us who you are!" Mordred shouted. Arthur thought about this and realised that Merlin probably knew this guy. This was confusing, but Arthur didn't want to deal with that at the moment so he focussed on Merlin's face and the words coming out.

"Mordred." The person's name, Arthur guessed, "Stop this. You don't need to do this. I can help you. We can get through this." Suddenly Arthur felt a pang of anger inside. What had his idiot of a fiancé gotten himself into? He looked so worried and surprised. All Arthur could feel was numbness.

"It is inevitable Emrys." Arthur didn't like the sound of that. "Either you tell him, or I'm just going to kill him anyway. It is the only way I can do things." "Kill me?" Arthur thought, "What is this bastard talking about?"

"Mordred. I can help you to forget. Just, just put the gun down." Merlin was trying to stop him, but Arthur could feel the gun being pressed closer and closer. He had a feeling that there was screaming going on around them now and people running, but that could have been him daydreaming. He wasn't sure any more. One minute he was doing something that seemed like a fantasy, now he was doing something that seemed like a nightmare.

"No!" Mordred shouted, though Arthur was still alive so obviously it hadn't made him push the trigger, "Forgetting won't help me! The only thing that would help me is if you figured out a way to stop the loop. To make it so that I wouldn't be in this situation after each loop. You managed to save Morgana didn't you? Isn't there a way for me?" Arthur was confused at to what his sister had to do with this, but Merlin seemed to understand but it just made him look sadder.

"Morgana was someone I was able to save. She realised what was happening and chose a different life. She was allowed that because she only became Arthur's enemy due to a large number of random events. Mordred…you are prophesised to kill Arthur. I hate to say it but you don't have a choice. You will always do the wrong thing because the story must always have an ending for it to have a meaning." Merlin was explaining things, but this just made Arthur more confused, "But now is not the time. You have to stop this now!"

"No! Not good enough Emrys. Not good enough!" Arthur could hear Mordred's finger press towards the trigger. He then felt something explode in him. The numbness faded away and he was filled with instinct. He hit Mordred's arm, surprising him causing the gun to go flying into the air. He then pulled Mordred into a throw and chucked him over his head and slammed him onto the ground infront of him. He pinned him down and grabbed the gun just before it landed on the ground. He quickly disarmed it and then pushed it away from them.

The three looked surprised, Arthur especially so, "How did I do that?" He asked. Mordred smirked. At this point the police arrived. The pushed Arthur aside and grabbed Mordred, quickly handcuffing him. They walked with him over to one of the cars that had gathered together and they were talking a lot. But Arthur was just focussed on Mordred.

Merlin ran over to Arthur and hugged him tighter than he ever had before. He never expected Mordred would do this so quickly. He should have expected it, it was just the sort of thing he would do, but Merlin wanted more time with Arthur, so he never thought about the scenario. He held onto Arthur for a long time, happy to have him safe with him.

Mordred was being helped down to the car, and Merlin thought it was over. But he then saw his eyes glow. Suddenly the police were thrown back into the air and Mordred was free. Merlin saw the car falling down towards civilians who hadn't made their way away yet and quickly held his hand out towards it, doing so allowed him to use magic pushing the car up and onto the roof of one of the buildings, and more importantly away from everyone else. Mordred then ran over towards Arthur. Merlin quickly changed his position so he was standing between the two of them. He readied to blast Mordred away, but then Mordred stopped and was laughing. Merlin then felt something click inside of him, he knew what Mordred was planning, and there was no way that he could stop him. There was nothing he could do.

"Arthur! Make him tell you about Camlann!" Mordred called out.

Suddenly there was a noise like a plane lifting off and Mordred crumpled onto the ground. Blood started to flow out around him from where the sniper's bullet had pierced through him. Mordred made no more noise, but Merlin knew that it was finished. Arthur and Mordred always killed each other, which mean that Arthur was now dead. He knew it was the end.

Arthur had a headache. The words echoed in his head and he was seeing things, visions, memories? He was standing with a sword impaled into him from the same man who now lay dead infront of him. He had a sword too, which had blood all over it. Mordred's blood. Arthur fell backwards as he went unconscious.

Merlin sat down next to him as tears started to roll down his face. They couldn't be here now. He looked up at the sky and made a noise that sounded like a roar, the two then disappeared from the square leaving people amazed once more.

The police tried to find them after that, but they were never going to be successful. Merlin wasn't going to let them be found by anyone. He dangled his legs into the lake of Avalon, as Arthur lay unconscious next to him as the burnt orange leaves fell down from the trees in the twilit sky.


	11. Chapter 11: -reveals his tricks

When Arthur awoke the sun had set and the moon was high in the sky. It illuminated the lake infront of him, making the area seem to sparkle. It looked like there were fireflies dancing around the water, but Arthur then noticed Merlin's eyes were glowing slightly and knew that he was making the lights dance. He stared at Merlin for a minute. He didn't know what was going to happen now. What had just happened…was too much for him to handle alone. He knew that the only person who could help him was the man infront of him.

After a few moments he noticed that Merlin had turned to face him. The two just looked at each other for a minute, Arthur for the first time noticing the age on Merlin's face. He knew that Merlin was, infact, a few years younger than him, however he seemed ancient in this light.

Merlin was the one to break the silence. He stood up and sat down next to Arthur by the tree. He held onto his hand and Arthur rested his head on his shoulder. The two sat for a few more moments before Merlin spoke, "Do you remember what happened?"

"When?" Arthur asked monotonously, "When Mordred used me as a hostage, or when he set off the bomb which blew us both up, or when we stabbed each other with legendary swords?"

Merlin sighed. Arthur nestled his head against his shoulder, getting a bit more comfortable, "I remember bits of all of it, but it's all a jumble. I can't really make anything out of it."

"Do you want me to tell you?" Merlin sounded scared; he was holding Arthur's hand tightly not wanting to let go, "I could still fix this. I could make you forget everything and we could go back to living happily."

Arthur leant away from Merlin and then punched him in the face. Merlin slowly picked himself up to face Arthur, who looked furious, "How dare you." Arthur's voice was quiet, but with so much anger weaving between the syllables, "How dare you think that changing my memories would make things better! Removing the memory doesn't make anything better; I think we can all see from what's happening to me that these things last. Memories cannot be completely removed. So don't you dare mess with my memory? Is this why I'm confused now? Have you messed with my head before?"

"No!" Merlin exclaimed, "I'd never do that to you, not without asking you first."

Arthur took a deep breath. He then slammed back against the tree behind him and slipped down so he was lying down against the floor staring up at the moon. Merlin mimicked him and was lying down beside him.

"Do you want me to tell you?" Merlin repeated. Arthur sighed.

"Yes. Yes Merlin. I want you to tell me." Arthur sounded exasperated. Merlin sighed.

"It's a long story. Once upon a time there was a prince and his servant. The prince's name was Arthur, and the servant's was Merlin. Merlin could use magic, however magic was forbidden by order of the king. However Merlin used his magic for his prince's good, and helped him to become a wise and strong king who united the people of Albion. The king was such a good man, that upon him dying a prophesy was revealed stating that he would return at Albion's hour of need. Eventually the king and all the lives that he touched had died. However the world always needed the king, for he was a good man among many lesser men. No one was able to do what he was able to do. No one was as noble, as wise and as wonderful. So the king returned, and again he did wonderful things but died again. The king was then brought back again, and again and again. This happened many times until now, when Arthur, the Judge who was ensuring justice returned to the land, and Merlin, the street performer who loves him, are sitting beside a lake remembering everything that happened." Arthur had listened silently. Merlin had summarised it a lot, but he knew that this was enough. He saw the fog lift around Arthur's mind and suddenly he remembered everything. He seemed stronger just from hearing this, no longer looking like the man he had seen in the morning. He now looked like the hero, the knight, the King.

They lay in silence for a while as Arthur thought through this.

"So you have always remembered this?" Arthur asked, sounding tired.

"No." Merlin stated, "I remembered for a long time, but then I was told that if I told you then you would remember and be able to end it all. I didn't know what to do so I removed my memories. Mordred made me remember a week or so ago."

"What do you mean 'end it all'?"

"I was told that if I told you then you would remember and then you had a choice. You could choose to end the cycle of rebirth, stopping us all from coming back again and again leaving the world for good, or you could choose for it to continue and for you to continue to do good in the world." Merlin explained. Arthur then turned and looked at Merlin. Merlin turned to him and their faces were lined up, eye to eye.

"Merlin…" Arthur started; he then threw himself onto his back and kicked up so that he was standing up. He paced away while Merlin sat himself up and watched the broken man, "You always do this Merlin! You always take everything onto your shoulders! You take on everyone's problems and make them yours to take responsibility of. This was set up perfectly for you! You got to remember everything and so take responsibility for everyone!" Arthur then kicked a tree and vocalised loudly.

He then stepped over to Merlin and knelt down infront of him, "Why don't you just stop Merlin? Why don't you stop taking responsibility and allow us to make the choices instead."

Tears started to poor down Merlin's face as he saw Arthur looking right into his soul. Arthur started to cry, but didn't let that stop him. He stood up and turned away, wiping tears from his face, "Merlin. Emrys. Whatever. At least at the end it is not your choice. It is mine."

Arthur walked over to the lake and stared at the moon's reflection on the surface. Merlin slowly stood up and made his way over to Arthur, embracing him from behind as he looked over at the water, "What does that mean Arthur?"

"It means…that I have a choice to make," Arthur sighed. They continued to stand there for a few minutes, until Arthur felt ready to speak again. He turned away from the water and towards Merlin, holding his shoulders, "I would love for nothing to have changed. I would have loved for us to just be like this forever. To be together…but that isn't going to happen now."

"I know." A tear rolled down Merlin's eye again. Arthur put his finger onto his face and wiped the tear off.

"I would say that no man is worth your tears…but maybe I'll allow it if that man is me," Arthur let out a faint smile as Merlin started to laugh. His laugh echoed around the wood, reflecting it's hollow sound, "I'm going to need some time to think about this…do you mind taking me somewhere?"

Merlin shook his head, "Where to?" He said weakly.

"I was hoping you might know. Do you know where Gwen is?" Arthur asked.

The sun was starting to rise now as a woman walked out of her cottage in her white shirt and brown knitted cardigan, with grey jeans. She walked over to the laundry from the night before and started to take clothes off of the washing line. As she did she noticed a man making his way across the field. The man was dressed in white, but there were a few mud stains on him, "Maybe he's lost." She thought.

The man eventually made his way across towards her, and she smiled at him. She noticed the man was carrying a bunch of daisies.

"Hello. Are you Guinevere?" The man asked, he seemed to be shaking a bit. He looked cold, but she knew it was something else. Something about the man just let her know.

"I am," She replied, compassion evident in her voice, "And who are you?"

The man smiled, a smile that melted a part of Guinevere, "I'm Arthur. Arthur Pendragon." He stated. He then walked over to her and held the daisies out to her. She took them and smiled, "These are lovely." She replied. She then looked up and saw a tear started to fall from the man's eye, "I was wondering if you could help me with a problem?" He asked, sobbing slightly.

Gwen nodded. She could tell that this man was a good man, not one who wanted to hurt her and she felt desperate like she wanted to stop the tears rolling down the man's face. The two made their way into the cottage and sat down around her dining room table. She put the daisies in a vase and set them upon the table

"I'm sorry for coming to you like this, I must look like a wreck." Arthur excused himself, but Guinevere simply smiled at him as she passed him a cup of tea. Arthur started to drink it and smiled feeling a bit more refreshed from it.

"You said you needed help with a problem?" Gwen prompted as Arthur nodded.

"Yes. I apologise already, it's all going to be quite vague. I can't tell you everything." Arthur started to explain as Gwen continued to smile, "I have recently found out that I have a choice. I can choose to end the suffering of my friends, my family and my…enemies?" Arthur hadn't thought about it, but actually that was the choice, Morgause only existed because he did, "But if I do, then I could cause a much bigger effect on the world."

"Right…so. Vague, huh?" Gwen laughed causing Arthur to let out a strange laugh; one Gwen could tell was covered in sorrow, "So this bigger effect on the world. If you do this will it cause more people to suffer?"

"Well…maybe? I've been told that it could cause people to suffer, because all of the good people will no longer be able to help them. But it could also take away a load of suffering, as the bad people will no longer be able to cause it. At the same time it could be a good thing because it means that other people will do the job of the good people and do it just as well because of the stories the good people have left behind."

Gwen laughed a little, "Sounds complicated."

"You're telling me," Arthur sighed, "So it could be a good thing to do, because it helps my friends and it could help the world, but it could also be a bad thing. What if there is a reason why I haven't had this choice before now and why my friends have had to suffer like this? Maybe we are meant to carry on."

"Well…I don't understand the situation." Gwen stated bluntly, "But by the sounds of it this has been going on for long enough. If you now have the choice to end it then maybe that is the reason why you should. If you are able to definitely stop the suffering of some people, then it is worth it, especially when it may not necessarily harm a larger group of people, especially if it may help them to become better. The decision doesn't sound like an easy one, but if the suffering of all of these people are so great then the best thing may be to let them go."

Arthur nodded and smiled, "You amaze me Guinevere. You see things clearly, no matter what."

"I wouldn't say that," She flustered, blushing slightly. Arthur then smiled again.

"Thank you Guinevere. You have helped me, like you always do." Arthur stood up and then walked towards the door. Gwen looked confused again, "What do you mean by 'always'?" Arthur went out of the door. She then stood up and rushed to the door, "Arthur? Arthur!" She called out, but when she opened the door he had vanished. She stood looking out at the fields trying to find the man, but he was gone.

"Merlin," Arthur said quietly as he stood by the lake again with his fiancé, both dangling their feet in the lake as the sun shined above them, "I've come to a decision."

Merlin nodded, continuing to stare at his feet in the water.

"I'm going to need your help Merlin. I need us to do something before I do it." Arthur explained, Merlin then looked at him, as he looked into the horizon and was grinning, "I need you to find everyone and invite them to our wedding."


	12. Chapter 12: The Last Performance

**Authors Note: Sorry it took so long for this to come out! Have had a busy few days. Hope you enjoy!**

Merlin stood in the hotel room staring at the reflection in the mirror. He looked good. He was in a good wedding suit: a long black jacket with a tail, black trousers, a cream waistcoat with a simple, but effective pattern stitched into it, a white shirt and a green pocket square and tie. The tie wasn't done up yet. Merlin didn't really know what to do with it.

He had done up a tie before…in one of his lives. He just hadn't done it for so long. Luckily he wasn't alone for this.

Gaius opened the door and walked over to Merlin, smiling at the man who he could tell was anxious.

"Ties are a tricky business aren't they?" Gaius smirked. He then span Merlin around and started to do the tie up for him. He moved his hands skilfully and quite quickly, Merlin was impressed, "Years of experience." He finished it and pulled Merlin's collar down, then smiled at the boy, "That will do."

"Yeah." Merlin replied, as he saw himself in the reflection of the mirror. He looked good, ready for his wedding day. But the wedding wasn't what Merlin was worried about. He knew what Arthur had intended for the day. Merlin knew that today was the last performance he would be in, but today he would not be the one performing.

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about it. He turned back to face Gaius, "Gaius…thank you. For everything. You've done so much for me over the years, I'm…I'm just eternally grateful." A tear started to roll down his eye and Gaius laughed.

"Merlin, it has been an honour," Gaius grinned, producing a few tears himself that he decided not to hide.

Meanwhile Arthur was getting ready. He was used to doing everything for himself and so was immaculate and ready when his sister came into the room and smiled at him, "Arthur. You look…"

"Let me guess Morgana, I look like a penguin? Or maybe a butler? How about I look like I'm ready for St. Patricks Day," Arthur was smirking while sounding serious. Morgana walked over to him and put her arms around his chest.

"You look wonderful," She said smiling. Arthur turned around and hugged his sister. After a few moments the hug broke off and Arthur smiled at his sister, who was wearing a beautiful long green dress made of some sort of silky material. She just looked beautiful in every way she could, completely stunning, "You know, you're not meant to look more beautiful then the couple."

Morgana laughed, "Father's on his way too. He just wanted to make sure that everything was ready at the church."

"Ah, great." Arthur replied, "Has everyone else on the list started to arrive?"

"I've checked into it, everyone you asked for is coming. But Arthur, some of these people…they're a bit…different. That is to say…I didn't expect you to invite some of the people."

Arthur laughed, "You're telling me. But they all deserve to be here for this Morgana." Arthur smiled and Morgana laughed slightly, not knowing what had come over her brother, "And Merlin invited a load of them anyway. Don't pin it all on me."

As time passed Arthur headed over to the church. The two had decided that Arthur would be the one waiting at the alter for him to arrive – Merlin had done enough waiting over the years that it only seemed fitting. As Arthur arrived at the church he smiled seeing all the faces that had gathered.

The first group he saw were his best men, the knights, who were all waiting up at the front, smiling as they noticed Arthur walk in. Also with them was his father, whose face looked softer than usual when he saw Arthur come in. Arthur then turned his attention to the rest of the room. There were a group of people who looked like the cast of a soap in the back, who looked a bit out of place in suits and fancy dresses. These were the servants that had helped Arthur throughout the years. Arthur remembered each of their names and smiled, they were important people that Arthur made sure were invited (much to Merlin's dismay as he had to track every one of them down).

He saw a group of people who looked perfectly comfortable, sitting and socialising. He recognised them as his uncle, Agravaine, a Queen back in the past, Annis and some of the princesses that Arthur had courted back in the past. He laughed as he saw Agravaine's expression upon hearing the Elena let out a huge belch midway through conversation. His eyes then followed onwards and he saw a couple teasing each other, sat in a corner. Arthur smiled; Tristan and Isolde had made it. They were particularly difficult to track down, but Merlin had managed to find them in some remote village. Then as he came towards the front he saw Guinevere, looking beautiful as she did the other day. She smiled upon seeing Arthur. He would have loved to talk to her for a while longer, but he knew that he needed to get ready and into position. Ready for his fiancé.

Meanwhile Merlin was taking his time to get ready. He had met with his mother at the hotel and started to travel with her and Gaius towards the church. However for some reason the traffic was building up and so the journey was taking a bit more time then expected. Merlin was strangely calm about the whole thing, finding it quite amusing as he imagined Arthur's face as he waited at the alter.

They made a quick stop before getting into the church and collected Will, Merlin's best man, who had decided to be awkward and force them to collect him instead of him going from them from the hotel. "Will is always Will," Merlin laughed in his head. The four then made their way over to the church. They got out of the car and then started to make their way towards the church. Gaius snuck in and made some signals. While he did, Merlin took a peek in to see all of the people.

The church was full with people. Merlin laughed as he remembered the faces. While Arthur remembered most of the people, there were a few that Arthur didn't know about who had always played an important role in his stories development. People that Merlin made sure arrived. He saw a woman lurking in the shadows looking a little devious, even though she couldn't have anything planned for this event, Nimueh, there was a man with a scarred face, Edwin, various druids were popping out all over the place, Gilli, Alator, Daegal, Finna. There was even a man at the back who would have been at the front if times were different, if he hadn't had to look after his family instead. Merlin smiled at Lancelot, who seemed to be lost in all of this, not really knowing why he was there. This feeling was shared by many of the guests, as there were none, apart from Arthur and Merlin, who knew why they were all here. But something struck them when they met Arthur and Merlin. All of the people they invited had come. Everyone they could find had made it…well, almost everyone. The police was still holding Morgause as her case had not finished yet, but Arthur and Merlin agreed that they didn't mind so much about that. It would be a good story for the future, another story of a prisoner who managed to escape a cell.

Merlin then stepped back, and Will put his hand on his shoulder, "You ready?" Merlin smiled at him, "Let's do this."

The processional music started, everyone stood up and Merlin started to walk down the isle, with his mother on his arm. Behind him was Will and Gaius – not the most traditional set up but it was the people that they had available, and the people that Merlin wanted walking behind him. The people who had always supported him exactly as he was.

Merlin did wonder whether his father was alive and could have seen this. His mother had insisted that he was dead, but Merlin never knew with him. Maybe he was watching from one of the shadowy corners of the church. Maybe he was keeping an eye on his son and smiling. Merlin did know that Gaius was with him though, so he knew that the man who in all rights was his father was supporting him with every step.

Merlin made his way over to Arthur, who was beaming beautifully at the sight of him. As Merlin arrived beside Arthur, Arthur took hold of his hand and they exchanged a small smile to each other. Merlin knew that it was Arthur saying that 'everything will be alright'.

Geoffrey turned towards the two and Merlin grinned, holding down a laugh, as the man started to talk through the wedding. The ceremony itself went to plan for the most part. No one had tried to affect the ceremony in any way, no random illusions or attacks on Arthur. The most worrying thing was the game of which best man had the rings. Merlin had the easy job knowing that Will had Arthur's, but Arthur had to hit each of his best men around the head as they were passing the ring between them.

Luckily by the time they reached the vows, it was revealed that Gwaine was holding Merlin's ring. Arthur sighed deeply, taking the ring off of him and passing it to Lyon, who he hoped would not start the game again.

Geoffrey, who was looking frustrated with the distraction, started on the vows, "Arthur Pendragon, do you take Merlin Ambrosius to be your wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honour and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him, for as long as you both shall live?"

Arthur smiled, as he looked Merlin in the eyes, "I do." To Merlin this sound melted everything. All of his anxieties about what was about to happen were destroyed as Arthur stared at him with his piercing eyes. Merlin's eyes glowed orange and he stopped the moment there, allowing himself to savour every detail. He felt loved. He knew that he was, and whatever happened next, he would always be loved.

The moment unfroze and Geoffrey started again, "Do you, Merlin Ambrosius, take Arthur Pendragon to be your husband, to cherish in friendship and love today, tomorrow and for as long as the two of you live, to trust and honour him, to love him faithfully, through the best and the worst, whatever may come, and if you should ever doubt, to remember your love for each other and the reason why you came together with him this day?"

Merlin looked straight at Arthur, who gave him a look saying 'hurry up Merlin'. Merlin grinned, "I guess I do." There was laughter through the church as Arthur shook his head and mouthed, "Idiot." Merlin mouthed back "prat" as the laughter finished. The two then looked at Geoffrey again.

This led to the rings (of which both were now present and safely away from Gwaine) being passed over. Arthur repeated with Geoffrey, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honour you, in the name of God." as he placed the ring upon Merlin's finger. Merlin froze the moment again so that he could savour it. He then eventually unfroze it and did the same with Geoffrey handing his ring over to Arthur.

The ceremony continued and Geoffrey then said, "And with this I pronounce you husbands joined together, you may now kiss." And on that note, Arthur drew Merlin in and they shared a passionate and wonderful kiss. Parts of the congregation cheered loudly, with others just clapping in a stately manner. Merlin froze this moment for he knew that this would be the last time. The last time that everything would be normal.

This time he had frozen him and Arthur. The two finished kissing and then looked upon the congregation. "I don't want it to end." Merlin stated looking out at them. He then turned to Arthur, who was also looking out, "Arthur. We could stop. We could let it continue."

Arthur then turned and looked at Merlin, he smiled at him with the smile that reassured every part of Merlin, "Merlin. It's time. You know what they say, all good things and all that."

"Cliché." Merlin grumbled. Arthur laughed as he hugged him. He then took his hands and they stood where they were again. "Last time then."

"Make it a good one," Arthur smirked as he led Merlin in for the kiss again, making it look just as passionate as the last one. The moment unfroze and the two were showered in the noise of appreciation from the congregation again. The kiss then stopped and Arthur took a breath in.

He then turned to the congregation and let the breath out, "Dear friends. I know that it isn't customary for the speeches to be done so early, but my husband and I wanted to make sure that you know how much we value each of you for being here today. Each of you are here for a reason, because you have touched our lives in so many ways. You may not entirely know how, but we know, and you are all here because of that mark you have made. For every good thing that we have done, it is because of all of you. Because of your efforts, your sacrifice, your love, we are here today to celebrate this day."

He smiled as he looked at the faces in the crowd, all of them waiting for his words, "But today it is time for the story to end and for a new one to begin. I tell you all that you have done enough. We have all done enough. We have played our roles countless times to ensure that the world remains an ultimately good place, but we need not do that anymore. I…we believe that the world will be inspired by us, that us stepping away will allow good people to come out and do good things. The legacy that we leave will allow normal people to step out and do extraordinary things. Good people will do our work."

Arthur could see the confusion on everyone, but knew that Merlin was holding onto his hand. He would finish this, "So, what I am trying to say, is that it is ok. Your job is done. You can rest now. I thank you all for everything through the years, but you can now stop. We can all stop."

A light then appeared infront of Arthur. The light went up into the air and seemed to explode above the people. Suddenly he could see realisation of their faces as they all awoke from their dream of lives and remembered everything. Their confused looks suddenly disappeared and they looked upon Arthur with one unified emotion, no matter what they all felt about him, no matter what experiences that had with him in the past, they were all in agreement. It was time to end this. It was time to stop. They all smiled at him.

"Thank you all." Arthur called out, he then held tightly to Merlin's hand as faces started to vanish from the crowd. Person after person they faded, like pages being ripped out of a book. The rows started to go from the back as people were taken away. Arthur looked at Merlin as the people started to vanish and then let go of their hands, as he knew that they both had people they had to say goodbye to.

As Arthur let go he walked straight to his father. The two embraced with Uther holding Arthur's head and stroking his hair, "Father…did I do well? Did I do the right thing in the end?"

"Arthur…you have been a better king then I could ever be. I am proud of you my son." Uther whispered into Arthur's ear, starting tears flowing from both of their eyes. At the moment Morgana walked over to the two and joined in the hug.

"I resented you for a long time," Morgana stated looking at Arthur, she then turned to Uther, "I hated you for such a long time." She then smiled as she held onto the two tightly, "But I learnt that you both are my family, you are important to me in a way that I can't understand but I know deep inside. Merlin taught me that. I love you both."

While this was happening Merlin stood with the knights, who laughed and messed with him once more. But it was time for them to go. Arthur left the embrace of his family and walked over to them. He shook each of their hands as they started to vanish, "I'll see you guys again, wherever we end up." Gwaine sighed, "What? You're saying I'll never be rid of you. Don't end this with such bad news."

The group laughed as the nights started to disappear, waving as they did. Merlin then turned and was embraced by his mother, "I love you Merlin. I'll always love you, no matter what."

"I know Mum." Merlin replied, tears rolling down his face as he held her tightly and as close as he could. She then backed away and vanished. Merlin then felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Gaius, and they hugged, "It's all going so fast Gaius. I just wish…"

"I know Merlin, I know." Gaius reassured him, "You and Arthur are doing the right thing. We all agree with it. You two have done enough." Gaius then walked over to Uther and Morgana. Uther and Gaius nodded to each other. They then vanished. There was then one person left in the room.

Arthur and Merlin walked towards Gwen. She grabbed Merlin in a hug as tears streamed down her face, "Merlin. Oh Merlin. You have been an amazing friend. Thank you for everything you have done." The two then stopped and Gwen moved in towards Arthur. Merlin decided to give them some room, for he knew that Arthur and Gwen's feelings for each other still existed, no matter what else happened.

The two embraced and Arthur held Gwen for a while. They didn't speak; they just stood in each other's embrace as Gwen started to disappear. Arthur finally let go when he felt her body vanish. He looked down at the floor and saw that in her place she had left a daisy, like the bouquet he had brought to her before.

Now the only people who were left at the wedding were Merlin and Arthur. They moved to each other and embraced, "Does this mean that we're going to start disappearing?" Merlin asked. Arthur then sighed, "How am I meant to know Merlin? Surely you are the one who knows about magic."

"Great way to ruin a moment Arthur!" Merlin shouted as the two broke the embrace, "We were having a sweet embrace, all of our friends start vanishing, and you decide to be all sarcastic again. Like usual. Well that's just great isn't it!" Arthur started to laugh at the outburst, "Oh, yeah, that's right, you laugh Arthur Pendragon! You stupid idiot, you irritating dollophead, you…clotpole!"

The two stood in silence for a minute, and then they both burst into hysterical laughter. They couldn't stop themselves. They continued laughing for a long time, eventually collapsing on the floor next to each other. After about five minutes they stopped and looked at each other.

"One last trip?" Merlin suggested. Arthur smirked and then took his hand as the two teleported like they had many times before.


	13. Epilogue: The Performer and the King

Merlin's head lay on Arthur's shoulder as they stared across the shimmering lake of Avalon with their feet dangling in the water. The sun was starting to go down and the area was just the perfect climate. It wasn't too warm, wasn't too cold, and it was dry but not overly so. It was a perfect moment.

Perfect…but bitter. Merlin knew what was going to happen.

He wrapped his arms around one of Arthur's, not wanting to let go for a second.

"I don't want it to end," Merlin whispered, breaking the silence from all but the birds that nested in a nearby tree. He knew that Arthur had heard, he knew that Arthur felt the same in some part…but Arthur was always the better man. The things that Merlin had done over the years: when he convinced Arthur that allowing magic in Camelot was the wrong thing damning his kind and ultimately his king, the way he treated Mordred turning him into the monster that he feared all along, Morgana. He regretted how he acted with Morgana for so long. Everything he did was with good intentions, but somehow those intentions turned everything into darkness.

But Arthur was different. When he acted, goodness followed. He did make bad choices, but he would turn them into something better in the end. He would correct it with a form of nobility that can only belong to a person. He would make the right decision and end everything correctly.

At that moment Merlin noticed a tear fall down Arthur's face, "Arthur?"

"I know Merlin," He said, his voice nasal, as he put his free hand to his face to try and wipe away some of the tears that had started to fall down, "I don't want it to end either."

The two then held each other for a while longer, watching the sun set in the sky.

"Do you think they'll remember us? Tell our story in years to come?" Arthur asked, he was calmer now, but his eyes were puffy and if he did not have the support of Merlin then he would have fallen down to the ground.

"I'm sure they will," Merlin replied smiling softly, "King Arthur, the hero. You'll last forever. Your story is one that will inspire children for a long time. You are good, but you're also exciting. You're a hero. You'll live on."

"And you are Merlin, the magician. A bit of an idiot, but without him Arthur wouldn't have lasted a minute." Arthur held onto Merlin's hand, "Without you, I am nothing. I can only be a hero because of you."

"Too right." Merlin smirked, the two then started to laugh.

After a few moments the laughter stopped and Merlin smiled. He then nodded, "I think it's time Arthur."

"Yeah. I guess it is." The two then stood up and looked across the water as the moon started to shine across the lake.

"I'm not saying goodbye though," Merlin noted, "There's no separating us. We'll be together in the next life, whatever form it may take."

"Yeah, probably. I can't get rid of your that easily can I?" Arthur laughed. Merlin then pushed him, causing him to stumble forward and into the water. The drenched Arthur glared up at Merlin, who was exploding with Arthur, "Merlin!"

"What?" Merlin smirked as he continued to laugh, "It was just a light nudge. I thought you'd be a bit better on your feet."

Arthur quickly grabbed Merlin's leg and pulled, knocking him into the water. Merlin glared at Arthur, who took his chance to start laughing. Merlin splashed at him, but Arthur managed to grab his arms and wrap his legs around him to stop him from moving. Merlin would have been worried about drowning, but his eyes glowed and they remained floating as he manipulated the forces in the water.

They stayed there for a moment, looking straight at each other's eyes. Then Arthur let go and the two floated on the surface of the water for a few more moments.

A few more moments. Merlin looked at Arthur, smiling, as he seemed to shine on the water.

One more moment. Arthur looked back at Merlin and grinned. He then pulled him over to him and the two moved their heads towards each other.

The lake was silent apart from the mother bird that returned to the nest.

**Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! It has been great to write this and to see that it has been appreciated (currently all the reviews, favourites and followers are multiples of five, which makes me very happy :D). I may do some more with some parts of this in the future if I feel like it (maybe do some one shots from Merlin's previous lives). But thank you very much! :D**


End file.
